


How To Get Girls

by MadITellYou



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: AU, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, High School, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-01-06 08:40:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 30,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21223742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadITellYou/pseuds/MadITellYou
Summary: Tobin Heath has many talents, but one in particular she's extremely proud of: Getting Girls. To make a little cash she decides to make instructional videos for some of the struggling girls and guys out there looking for love. There’s a new girl in school, and she’s not responding to Tobin’s charm the way she’s used to. Will the expert be able to land the girl?





	1. The First Steps

*Tick Tick Tick*

Tobin tapped the camera’s glass. She took a step back and settled into her desk chair, taking a quick look behind her at her room, then turning back to her computer and giving a big smile. That was one of her best attributes, and she knew it. In fact, she knew everything that made her attractive. It sounded cocky, and hell maybe it was, but that was okay because she wasn’t a jerk about her looks. The simple fact was, as most things are simple to her, she was very good looking, and girls took notice. Yeah, they took a lot of notice. 

She was tall, but not freakishly so, at least not in her book. Girls, the type of girls she liked, they enjoyed being a little towered over, the need to look up before you kiss someone was sexy. The girls she liked also enjoyed the fact that she was athletic. They enjoyed the muscles in her arms and legs, and when she took her shirt off, boy did they enjoy those six compact little muscles laying just under her tan skin. But it wasn’t just her body, no, her face was pretty nice to look at. High cheekbones, remarkably nice brown eyes (as far as brown eyes go) and of course the smile. 

She flashed this smile to every pretty girl as they passed, didn’t matter if they were gay or straight or whatever, she smiled at all of them. Why wouldn’t she, it took long enough to these pearly whites to be straight and ready to rumble, of course she smiled at all the girls? That’s the whole thing about Tobin Heath, she liked girls. 

Man oh man did she liked girls. They were the best part of her day, of her life, of the whole freaking universe. Girls, girls, girls. There was nothing better. While most people were terrified of being gay, and she was when she first figured it out, but after a while, she was so thankful, because of GIRLS. They were all so magnificent. Beautiful like the sun, like flowers, like sunsets, goddamn they were perfect, and they smelled nice too. She liked their soft skin, and silky hair, and long legs, and kind smiles. She liked boobs, big, small, medium, all the shapes, and sizes. She liked make up, full face and natural, liquid lines, lipgloss that tasted like cherries and eye lashes like fans. She just liked girls, and thank the gods, girls liked her too. 

She was one of the lucky ones. There was this force in the universe and it only flowed through some people. It was the force that made girls like you. Some guys had it, they were called players. Some girls had it, they were also players, but softer, and Tobin had it. The force pretty much knocked her on her ass when she turned fifteen. It was like she woke up one day and she just had a way with women. Sure she was only seventeen now, and she had a long way to go, but it didn’t stop heads from turning in the halls as she walked down them. She was a head-turner; what a rare find. Which leads us to right now.

Tobin leaned back in her leather desk chair, her arms resting comfortably, she was looking as cool and casual as she could, staring into the camera, no, peering into it, making sure to focus on the tiny telescoping lens so she looked like she was staring at you from the screen. She was making this video for you after all, and she needed to make sure you knew it. Because here’s the thing, a few days ago she read an article about having a passive side income, which she needed because he didn’t want to work whenever she went to college, and she didn’t want to get a summer job cleaning little kids puke at the arcade, so she needed a source of revenue so she could do things like put gas in her car, and buy new clothes. The article said the best way to make an income without doing much at all was to capitalize on the thing you were an expert in, and if she was an expert in anything, it was getting girls. 

Not in a gross way of course. She respected women, after all she was one and she would demand the same level of respect out of any girl that wanted her, so she demanded respect out of herself. She was good at getting girls, but she also treated them right, like the princesses they were, that was important to say. 

Sitting in her best t-shirt, the one she bought last year, a white v-neck that showed the perfect amount of her tan skin, the sleeves just long enough to give a preview of her arms, but not giving away tickets to the gun show. She was in nice pants too, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was her hair, it was down around her shoulders, the slightest hint of waves in it, like she had been surfing all day, even though she hadn’t, but still it was a look, one that said she didn’t care, even though she did, a lot, a whole hell of a lot. She had some topics planned out, written in the note section on her phone, she was prepared, as per usual. She was ready to capitalize on what she was an expert in. 

<<<< How To Get Girls: The Start >>>> 

_“Hey, Tobin here. Some of you might know me and some of you might not, but I’m guessing if you’re watching this, then you know me, or have heard of me, maybe from a friend, or someone else who’s struggling with a problem. It kind of doesn’t matter how you got the link to my videos, what matters is you’re here. This is good, this means you are taking the first step to better your life, not the entire thing because let’s face it, I’m not a life coach, I won’t help you pass your geometry quiz, but I can help you in one aspect, girls. _

_Now you’re asking “Tobin, what are you talking about?” It’s okay to be shy, it’s okay to pretend like you don’t know, we will get past that in the videos, but I know if you dig down deep you know what I’m talking about. You, yes you, have a problem getting girls. It’s not a small problem. It’s not a medium problem. It’s a huge problem, and that’s why you’ve turned to me, an expert. _

_“What makes me an expert?”_

_I’m not one to kiss and tell, that’s sleazy, but the fact that I have kisses to tell about makes me one step closer then you’ve ever gotten, so I have that going. Plus if you know me, then you know I’m an expert, that’s why you’re here. But let’s get back to the topic at hand, girls. _

_Here’s the thing my friends, there is one sure-fire way to get a girl to take a first look at you, and that’s ‘Be a decent human being.’_

_Yup, it’s that simple. If you’re a good person, then a girl will notice you. If you’re a trash bag of a person, she will never notice you, or she will but it probably won’t be in a good way. Say you’re an asshole, and she sees you, and maybe she talks to you, maybe she even goes on a date with you, it’s all well and good, but one day she’s going to figure out you’re a bag of garbage and she’s going to kick you to the curb. Now you’re asking “Tobin, what if I just want enough dates to sleep with her?” Well to that I say, get the hell off this video, I don’t like you and I don’t want you using any of my techniques to get into any girl’s pants, you’re garbage, now go away. _

_Here’s the thing ladies and germs, if you don’t respect other human beings, if you don’t respect women then you don’t deserve respect. If you’re trash, then you belong in the dumpster, alone and hot and smelly and decomposing. Respect is key. Respect everyone’s bodies, views, boundaries, thoughts, ideas, opinions, etc, just respect human beings. R-E-S-P-E-C-T find out what it means to everyone and put it into practice. Get it? Got it? Great!_

_Now that it’s just us decent human beings, the second step is, be nice to the people around you. “But, Tobin, isn’t this the same as the first step?” No, you can be a decent human and be kind of a mean grouch. You might be nice on the inside, but project this unpleasantness women pick up on. When you’re outwardly nice, you give off a pleasant vibe, and woman like that. They like when you smile, even if it’s only a few times. They like when you’re good to animals, and little kids, and your mom. But… only if it’s genuine. _

_Which is step three, be genuine. There is no fake it till you make it scheme to getting woman, no matter what the other guys say. You might be able to hold a lie for a little while, maybe even enough to get her to like you, but eventually the truth will out and suddenly you’re an asshole, which is bad, because girls talk. If you’re a lying jerk to one, you’re probably a lying jerk to the rest of them. So always be genuine, never fake a personality or a physical attribute, and for the love of god, never fake an accent, I’ve seen it many times. If you’re from Jersey, then be from Jersey, don’t try to be British, it’s just embarrassing to watch. _

_So those are the first three tiny little baby steps to getting a woman to like and notice you._

_Step 1: Be decent._  
_Step 2: Be kind._  
_Step 3. Be genuine. _

_That seems easy enough right? I hope so, because if you can’t get those three down, then what I’m going to teach you is going to be incredibly hard to manage. My entire game plan hinges on those three steps. Get them down, sear them into your brain. Make a brand out of them and plunge it into your grey matter until you can’t possibly think of anything else. Then come back and learn the rest.”  
_

<<<<———>>>> 

There it was, her first video, barley five minutes long, but enough of an introduction to the world hopefully, someone would want to see more. In her mind, she was telling it like it is, and everyone needed to listen, you know if they wanted to. Hopefully they did, after all, she needed the cash. 

Clicking through the video, she was proud to get it all in one take, no editing required. If she was going to make more videos, this would probably be the only single take. Grinning from ear to ear, she opened up her account and uploaded the content. Her page was private, she didn’t need it to be public after all this wasn’t for everyone, it was only for a few people. 

The idea came to her while she was sitting around waiting for her ride. Her headphones were on, she was perched upon the stone banister of the steps leading to the entrance of the school. Post Malone was singing of heartbreak in her ears, and people were passing by, girls of course, and of course she smiled at every single one of them, most of them blushing and waving, and she always waved back. That’s when she noticed a boy standing next to her, short, kind of strange looking, a wondrous look in his eye. She jumped down, pulled back one side of her headphones and asked, “What’s up?”

“How do you do that?” He asked, his voice cracking. 

She looked down at her phone, hitting pause on the music. “Do what?”

His head turned out to the dwindling crowd of high schoolers, “How do you get all those girls to look at you?”

“I don’t get them to look _at me,_” she shrugged, cracking a smile. “They look, and I’m here.”

The boy, snorted, pushing his wire-rimmed glasses up on the bridge of his nose. “I’m here too, yet they only seem to notice you.”

“Oh,” she laughed as if the answer was the silliest thing because to her it was silly. “I smile at them.” Out in the crowd, a group of girls were walking just ahead towards the parking lot. Tobin honed in on them and flashed the million-dollar smile, and the girls all smiled back, some of them throwing a wave in her direction, and she lifted her left hand giving a quick surfer shaka back, which made them giggle, then whisper to each other. She looked over to the boy, “See? I just smile and they smile back.”

“Yeah to you maybe,” she shifted his backpack on his shoulder. “They don’t do that for guys like me.”

“What are you talking about?” She asked in a calm voice, looking down at the boy. She had never seen him before, which was weird because she knew almost everyone at the school even the underclassman. Sure she was a senior, but she made a point to get to know everyone she could. This boy with his curly brown hair and bright grey eyes was a complete mystery, nonetheless, she wanted to help him. 

He wasn’t bad looking. He could use a haircut, and shave those three hairs on his upper lip. Maybe change his outfit to something that actually fit his frame, and he needed to stand up straight. But for now, she worked on the one thing they were actually talking about. “Smile, right now.”

He looked around, seemingly embraced by the idea. “No, I can’t.”

“You can’t smile?” She reached out slapping him on the shoulder. “Come on dude, you asked me how I do it and I’m letting you know. Smile.”

After another few seconds of moving different parts of his body awkwardly, he finally looked up and showed all his teeth, his eyes squinting and his nostrils flaring. 

“Not like that,” Tobin said quickly. “Relax your face. Why do you look angry, you’re smiling?”

He blinked a few times, trying to get the upper half of his face to relax, but kept his lower half the same. “Like dis?” He said through his teeth.

“No,” she said a little worried for the younger guy. “Dude, relax your entire face, you look worried. Your eyes need to match your lips.” She gave a quick smile, not as powerful as she did with a woman, but enough to prove a point. “Yesee. Relaxed.” She spoke as she smiled, then let it go. “Try this, push your tongue against the back of your teeth. If you’re focused on your tongue, the rest of your face will relax.”

Following directions, the boy tried the trick. It took a few seconds, his face going through a few twists before it came to a natural-looking smile. 

Tobin nodded, “You got it. Looks a thousand times better.” Turning her head she looked to see if there were any girls around, and lucky for her two were passing by. “See them?” She nodded over to the two, probably sophomores, walking by. “Smile at them when they pass by us.”

He shifted in his stance, worry coming over his face as she tried to pull the wrinkles from his shirt. His foot started to bounce as he shoved his hands in his pockets. 

“Take your hands out your pocket, it looks bad,” Tobin said quickly, then set a hand on his shoulder. “And chill out, just be calm.”

The girls were approaching, both of them looking ahead until they were just a few feet away, then they turned their heads. Tobin gave a soft smile, she wasn’t one to show interest in anyone below a junior, but she didn’t want to be rude, plus this was all about this guy. She looked down out the corner of her eye to see the boy give something very close to a nice natural smile. The girls smiled back, giggling to themselves, then walking past. 

“Did it work?” He asked with hope.

Tobin’s head went a little to the side, “Eh, it kind of worked. I mean they saw us.” She squeezed her hand on his boney shoulder. “But that’s the first step, they need to see you. Next time you see them, maybe try throwing a head nod or something their way, and if they nod back, then maybe go up and start a conversation.”

“Oh god no!” He took a step back chuckling nervously. “I could never talk to them, not in a billion years.”

“Why?” She asked, looking back at the girls walking making sure she didn’t miss anything. 

When she turned back around, his head was lowered. “They’re pretty, and I’m…” he kicked a pebble on the ground. “I’m me.”

“I don’t get it,” Tobin said with some sincerity. “I mean, you’re not king jock, but you seem like a nice guy.”

“Girls don’t want nice guys,” he shrugged. 

“Who the hell told you that crap?” She almost shouted. Lowering her voice to a reasonable volume, she spoke again. “Listen, all girls want someone nice, okay all that bad boy crap is for the birds. Yeah so maybe they want someone who can give them a little excitement, but it doesn’t mean you can’t be nice at the same time. I mean, Tom Hardy is probably one of the most badass guys in the world, but he’s also nice and respectful.”

“And good looking,” he added in. 

“Okay yeah true,” she agreed, there was no denying it. “But a jerk is a jerk, and all the good looks in the world can’t outshine a bad attitude, not forever at least.” She leaned back on the stone wall. “Trust me, if you’re nice and respectful, girls will notice you.” She adjusted her headphones on her neck. “And smile, don’t forget to smile.”

He gave a short laugh, tucking his hands in his pockets. “You should make a how-to guide or something.”

Tobin scoffed, “Yeah maybe.”

A honk came, and she turned to see a black SUV pull up in front of the steps. The tinted window rolled down and her best friend leaned down, her freckled face looking a little annoyed with life, but that was just how Kelley looked most days. 

Tobin picked her backpack up off the ground and slung it over her shoulder. “Hey, I gotta go. I didn’t get your name.”

“Jake,” he said looking up with the new smile he just learned. “Jake Press.”

“Nice to meet you, Jake,” Tobin said tucking her phone into her pocket. “You new here?”

“Yeah, my family just moved here.” 

Tobin nodded, looking back to the car waiting on her. “Cool, I’m Tobin. I’ll see you around.” She started walking, only to turn her head back, “And take your hands out your pockets.”


	2. Body Language

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick update this time around. I can't promise they'll all be this quick.

Shutting the door behind her, Tobin plopped down in her desk chair running her hand over her face and sighing to herself. It was a trying day, to say the least. Some days were like that, tested her in ways she didn’t expect. Sure she was young and popular, and maybe her life wasn’t as demanding as others, but she had her own problems she struggled to get through. 

The first one, and what could arguably be called her biggest problem was her parents. The second youngest (or third oldest as she liked to call herself) or four kids, and the last in a line of girls before her little brother was born, her parents were a little too hard on her. She made this assessment off how easy she believed her sisters had it, they were off at college now, but growing up they could do no wrong, even though they did absolutely everything under the sun. Tobin, however, seemed to be the only person in the world who could mess up the simplest things in her parent's minds. 

It’s not that they didn’t trust her, they were protective of who she was, and who they saw her becoming. You see, besides the true talent of getting a girl to talk to her Tobin was great at something else, soccer. She was a star, at least at her school, and soon to be in college and beyond if her parents had anything to say about it. Tobin was destined for the national team, for sponsors and adoring fans, and her mother and father made sure she didn’t do anything to screw that up. “Stay close and stay clean, Tobin Powell.” Yes, mother!

It was for her own good and Tobin knew it. Left to her own devices Tobin would probably be in a ditch somewhere from falling off her longboard, breaking her leg and having no way to call for help because her phone battery was on the verge of dying the majority of the time. She did stay close, and she did stay clean. No drinking, no drugs, no wild parties (well almost no wild parties) and never getting into more trouble than her smile and wit couldn’t get her out of. She had a scholarship to protect, and more importantly a reputation. 

There wasn’t a girl in the world that wanted anything to do with someone they couldn’t trust, and therefore a colorful past wasn’t something she wanted to be saddled with. Sure, she saw girls, sure she parked her car in the back lot when it was dark and had countless fun with different girls, but she was good about it, never breaking hearts, and never breaking her one rule: no girlfriends. 

She had friends, and she had girls, but she did not and would not get a girlfriend. It was drama, too much drama, and after all, she like girls, all of them and she wanted a chance to talk to and _talk to_ as many of them as she wanted. Girlfriends led to one thing in her mind, trouble, she’s seen it countless times. She’s seen her best friend get taken down by a simple miss understanding. When Kelley broke up with her ex, the rumor mill quickly turned and ground Kelley down to mush. She was no longer a viable option in a lot of girl's minds, which sucked because Kelley was actually pretty great, her ex was a monster. Tobin warned her against the monster, but the heart wants what it wants, and now Kelley was poison until they both went off to college. Poor Kelley.

But for now, her focus was on herself. School was tough, practice sucked and she came home to her mom on a rampage about her grades. She needed to find a way to get through her History mind-term, she needed to work on her corner kicks, and she needed to find a way to hide her mid-semester report from her parents until after she had a viable excuse for the C- in Trigonometry. If she couldn’t get those thorns out of her side she would spend the rest of her senior year locked in her room with books open, only being let out for school and practice. That was not going to do. 

Just in case she was about to be under lock and key, she had better start making some content for her slow-growing fan base. Her private page with her first video now had a few hits, just a couple hundred, which was good. She even had a comment, her first one, from a mystery person asking her to update as soon as possible. Soon was here and she was ready.

<<<< How To Get Girls: Body Language >>>> 

__  
_“What’s up, guys? I see some of you have given out the link to my private page. That’s good, as long as you’re only giving it to good people. Never give it to jerk-offs we don’t want those kinds of people having this kind of power. Right? Good._

_Last video we went of the first three steps to getting a girl to notice you: Be decent, be nice and be genuine. Those were the easy parts, those get you in the door, well not in the door so much as they get you a first look, like the cover of a book, but as the saying goes, never judge a book by it’s cover, a girl won’t judge you solely on those three things alone. The next step, the one that could possibly get her to come over and talk to you, or be open to you going up to her, is body language. _

_“What's body language, Tobin?” Glad you asked, it’s your vibe. That’s right, it’s not really about clothes, or hair cuts, which we will get into eventually. Body language is all about how you present yourself to the world. You could be wearing the weirdest thing, and have the worst hair cut but if you project confidence, no one will even notice. Basically, you have to take what you’re working with and rock it._

_Step one: Stand up straight. _

_It doesn’t matter if you’re short or tall or medium height, you’ll always look dumb if you’re slouching. No one wants a sloucher, plus it’s bad for your back, straighten that spine. Keep your head up. That’s right guy and gals, keep that head up no matter what. Now, it doesn’t mean stick your nose in the air, you don’t want to come off like a cocky, but you do want to come confident. Your posture should say, “Yeah, I’m a great person, come talk to me.” And this goes for when you sit too, always sit up straight. Nothing is worse than the person who’s shoulders are touching their ears because they’re all hunched over. Also, bring things up to your face, don’t bring your face down to things. _

_Step two: Be open. _

_“What does this even mean Tobin?” Well, if you’re the type of person who crosses your arms when you stand, then stop. It makes you look closed off and gives off the vibe that you don’t want to be approached. Now if this is what you’re going for, say if you’re uncomfortable and you’d rather be left alone, then cross those arms, put up your own personal shield, but if you want a girl to be interested in talking to you, then open yourself up. Stand and sit with your chest open and your arms down by your side. Let them see you. They’ve taken notice, so let them get a good visual. _

_Notice I said to stand with your hands by your side, that means don’t shove them in your front pocket. It looks bad. Guys, it looks like you're reaching for something. Girls, well there’s nothing to reach for, but still, it’s not a good look. Let your arms fall naturally, don’t keep them straight like you’re carrying heavy briefcases. _

_Alos, I know this is the technology age but don’t always have your phone out. It makes you look like you’re too busy, and she might be scared to bother you. Plus if your phone is out then your head is down and remember what I said about keeping your head up._

_If you have busy hands here’s a trick, keep a quarter in your pocket. You can pull it out and toy with it whenever you feel the need to move your hands, then you can quickly put it back in your pocket when someone is talking to you. Don’t get a fidget spinner, those’er played out. A quarter is normal, and if you’re really cool, learn how to flip it over your knuckles. It helps with finger dexterity and it’s a cool trick to impress women. _

_Next!_

_Step 3: Eye contact. _

_I cannot stress this enough, make eye contact with a girl if you want her to have some idea you are interested in her. Now that being said, there’s good eye contact and creepy eye contact. Good eye contact is three seconds including a smile, then look away. Stay looking away for a minute or so before you look back. If she looks back at you it means she interested, if she doesn’t then leave the girl alone, don’t stare. _

_That brings us to creepy eye contact. Do Not Stare At Women! It’s weird, it makes them uncomfortable, and you look like a clown. If you look at a girl and she doesn’t look back in five seconds, LOOK AWAY! Guess what, if she or her friends clock you staring, then all your chances are out the window. It’s okay to check back in a few minutes, but always keep the unrequited eye contact to the 3 and 5 rule. You have 3 chances to look at her for 5 seconds apiece and if she never looks back, give up. _

_Step 4: Smile. _

_That’s right, you need to smile. If you’re lucky enough to get her to notice you, and to make eye contact with you, the next thing to do is smile. Give a soft natural smile, and make sure you’re smiling with your eyes as well. Show teeth, but not too many, and soft eyes. Any person that doesn’t smile with their eyes is probably a serial killer, and even if you’re not, she might think you are, so practice in the mirror, soft eyes. _

_Now say you smile at her, and she doesn’t smile back, what do you do next? Give up. Don’t make a face, don’t get angry, don’t show that she got to you, simply stop smiling to acknowledge her non-smile, then look away. Only sore losers make faces when a girl doesn’t smile at them. And remember, any girl that tries to make you feel bad for simply smiling at them is probably not the girl for you._

_But also remember no woman, no person, owes you the time of day, so don’t act like they do. There’s nothing more unattractive than a person who thinks they’re entitled to attention and admiration. You know what’s sexy? Being humble. So be humble. Who knows, maybe she is just having a bad day and the next time she sees you, she’ll smile at you._

_I think that’s it for body language. Four easy as pie steps. _

_Step 1: Stand up straight._  
Step 2: Be open.  
Step 3: Make eye contact.  
Step 4: Smile. 

_All of these steps can be a little tricky to master. Learning what’s good and what’s bad when it comes to body language is really a personal thing. I can tell you to stand like me, which is my left foot just slightly in front of my right, at a very slight angle, but that may not be comfortable for you. You have to do what feels right for your body._

_All of the things here are stepping stones to developing your own sense of comfortably when it comes to meeting women. This biggest thing is to make sure she has some kind of clue you’re interested without coming off like you’re planning to murder her. There’s a fine line between an inviting look and an ‘I’ll keep you in my basement’’ look. Practice in the mirror, and don’t be afraid to ask your friends if you look like a killer. _

_That’s all I have for today. Leave a comment below if you want me to go over anything specific. Go ahead and forward the link to my page to any of your friends that might need advice, and remember to be a decent human being. _

_See you next time._

__

<<<< ——— >>>> 

Her second video was now complete. She needed to do a little editing, take out a few seconds where she paused, but it looked good. It was kind of exciting making this kind of content. It was especially exciting now that she had a few followers.There was no expectation for her to get rich off of this, maybe she could make a few hundred bucks just enough to carry her through the summer and some pocket change for the beginning of college. But there was potential to maybe get an advertiser, or sponsor, or something.

In reality, it was just kind of nice to do. It felt good to help people, especially the ones who believed they were beyond hope. The truth was, Tobin was a hopeful person, she didn’t think anyone was beyond help, and she enjoyed when people put their trust in her. Now she had some followers and they were trusting her, so even if she didn’t make that much money, it was enough to know she was giving some sound advice to guys like her new friend Jake, who was coincidently the reason she had followers. 

She was standing around, again her headphones on, waiting on Kelley to finally arrive, swearing up and down she was going to get beg her dad to help her fix her car so she didn’t have to wait on her perpetually late friend anymore, when the younger boy came strolling up to her, looking a little happier than he did the other day. 

“Hey Tobin,” he said in a cheerful voice. 

Pulling her headphones down and around her neck, Tobin gave the boy a kind smile, the one she taught him how to do. “Hey, what’s going on Jake?”

“Not much,” he said pushing his hands into his pockets, then giving wide eyes and pulling them back out. “You waiting for your ride?”

She turned her head to see if the car was anywhere close, “Looks like it. What about you?”

“Yeah, I’m waiting for my dad.” 

He stood awkwardly, looking like he wanted to say more but didn’t know what. Tobin had been here before, the initial making friend's stage, not knowing what to say to someone you don’t really know. She knew how it felt to want to talk, but worrying you might say something stupid. In her mind, it was her responsibility as the older wiser one, to carry the conversation forward. 

“Hey, so I made a video,” she said out of nowhere. It wasn’t something she really planned to share just yet. The video was up, but it was private and the idea was still being weighed in her mind, but he was the reason she started it in the first place so why not talk about it. “Remember, you said I should make a how-to guide. Well, I made a YouTube channel.”

Looking up with big grey eyes, the boy flashed a wide smile. “Really? That’s amazing. What’s your screen name?” His phone was in his hand in a flash, the app open and ready to type.

She chuckled at the question, knowing her screen name was kind of silly, and about how sparked up the younger boy was about getting it. “ForHeathReasons, all one word.” 

“Oh I get it,” his laugh was light full of life. “It’s like, For Health Reasons, but your name is Heath.” He looked up at her, making eye contact. “That’s funny.”

“Thanks,” she was proud of her pun, and it was nice someone else understood it. “So it’s private, but I’ll accept you. There’s only one video right now, but I’ll upload more if people like it.”

He clicked on the screen a few times, then nodded. “I’m sure they will. I’ve asked a few people about you. Apparently, you’re like a god at this school.”

“I’m not a god,” Tobin responded kindly. “I just have a skill, that’s all.”

Putting his phone back in his pocket he sighed, “I would pay to have your skill.”

That’s when the idea to have a Patreon popped into her mind. Originally she was just going to see if she could get a few thousand followers, then maybe a sponsor or two, she never thought individuals would pay for her advice, but maybe they would. 

“Share the link, if you want,” she said casually, then had second thoughts and added in, “Only with people you trust. Don’t just give it away. I don’t want the whole school watching. Not everyone needs to know my tricks.”

His head bobbed up and down like a fishing lure in rough waters. “I have some friends back home, they’re like me, I’ll share it with them.”

“That’s cool,” she watched his eyes gloss over for a second. It made her think about his comment, about his friends being like him, and she wasn’t one to let anyone feel bad about themselves. “Jake, you know you’re not a loser, right?”

He scoffed, shifting in his stance. “Tell that to all the people from my old school.”

“I will,” she stood up straight, tall like a superhero. “Give me their numbers.” They shared a quick laugh. He straightened his back like she did, seeming to have a little more confidence. “We may not know each other well, but I think you’re pretty cool.”

His chest swelling, he tried to control his smile. “I think you’re awesome.”

Tobin was about to respond when a melodic voice called out for him, making the boy spin on his heels. Tobin looked up to see who was talking and for the first time in her life, she could feel her heart stop. 

A girl, one she had never seen before came strolling up to them. She was magnificent, long curly dark brown hair, smooth brown sugar skin, and the brightest white smile Tobin had ever seen. Standing, now officially speechless, Tobin was powerless to do a single thing as this mystery girl came closer. She even dressed cool, simple white t-shirt with the word ‘feminism’ printed in black letters, the short sleeves rolled just a little higher on her toned arms. Straight cut button-fly jeans tucked into a pair of black leather boots. Oh god, she made Tobin feel like a dork, she hadn’t felt like a dork since she was thirteen. Suddenly her short-sleeve blue button-up with tacos printed on it wasn’t cool at all, not when this girl was looking at her. 

As if she knew she had the upper hand on the star-struck Tobin, the mystery girl completely ignored her, going right for the boy. “Come on Jake, dads waiting over there.”

Now Tobin could see it. This girl had green eyes, compared to the boys grey, but the resemblance was definitely there, the same skin tone and facial structure. A part of the mystery was solved, this was Jake’s sister. Tobin started to talk to herself in her head, making herself snap out of this frozen state. If she wanted to know this girl's name, she was going to have to speak. 

“Hey,” that was a start. She cleared her throat once, making sure to get the other girl’s attention, then she gave a quick smile. “I’m Tobin.” The girl looked Tobin right in her eyes, it was like fire. This was the first time Tobin had to stop herself from falling over from just one look. 

“Christen,” she said simply. Her voice was so light, it was like an angel singing, or something less cliche. If the perfect day had a sound, it would be her voice saying her name.

It was her turn to speak again after all Jake was being a great wingman and not moving which meant his older sister had to stay put. “So you’re new here.”

Christen cracked a smile and gave an airy laugh, “Yeah.”

“Well I was born and raised here,” she smirked. Now she just needed that sentence to make some kind of sense instead of it being just a strange statement of fact. Then it clicked. “So if you need someone to show you around, you know like maybe show you where to get the best burger, maybe on Friday night. I’m your girl.”

Never breaking eye contact Christen gave her own perfect version of a smirk. “You’re my brother’s friend?”

Tobin looked down at the boy between them, “More like best buds. Right, Jake?”

“Yeah,” he answered simply. Good lad.

Christen tilted her chin up, her smile getting wider, turning more into a grin now. “I don’t go on dates with my little brother’s friends.” She pressed her lips together, but her cheeks still went up on a cocky smile. 

Tobin was one hundred percent sure Christen saw the way her eyes widen in surprise. She was also sure she saw her jaw drop a quarter of an inch before she got some kind of control over her face. As much as she wanted to say something witty back, she didn’t have anything to say. So, like an idiot, Tobin stayed staring, blinking as if someone told her to never blink again and she panicked, because she was panicking and trying her hardest not to let it show. 

Christen, in all her amazingness, took a step back, her hands going to her back pockets. “Come on Jake.” She walked backward waiting on her little brother to follow. 

Jake, the kind sweet boy who did not have the confidence his sister possessed, looked up to the stunned older girl, “Later Tobin.”

Without looking away from the girl walking away Tobin responded, “Yeah, later Jake.”

Before turning around, Christen let her head fall for just a second, before looking up and grinning with her tongue touching her front teeth. She made prolonged eye contact with Tobin then flipped around and started walking a little faster. 

Tobin watched as the boy jogged to catch up and she was left standing by herself wondering what in the world just happened. She watched the girl walking away, praying she would turn back around, just give a quick look, some kind of hope that maybe Tobin had a small chance of talking to her again. Right when she was about to give up Christen looked back, it was only a second, but she looked back. That was hope and Tobin Heath was a hopeful person. 

She had an inkling to run after her, but she knew the best thing to do was give her some time and space. She had hope and it was enough for now. A car horn sounded, forcing Tobin to turn around and head towards her friend waiting on her. She climbed in the SUV, throwing her bag in the back and buckling up. 

“Who was that?” Kelley asked, her head leaned down to see out the passenger's window. Of course, she spotted the gorgeous girl too. 

“Christen Press,” Tobin tried to sound casual even though her heart was pounding against her ribs. “She’s new here.”

Kelley scoffed, “And I bet you already have her number.” She put the car in gear and started driving. 

“Nope,” Tobin laughed, sounding as shocked as the look on Kelley’s face. Looking out the window, Tobin settled in her seat. “But I will. When’s she’s ready.”


	3. Wingman

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your comments and encouragement.

Settling into her seat and draining half a bottle of water, Tobin opened her laptop. As per usual she clicked through her social media pages, giving thumbs up and laughing faces to memes sent over facebook. Next, she opened Instagram, she would normally filter through most of this on her phone, but for once she had it plugged in and charging. The latest picture of her and Kelley laughing on the pitch had over three hundred likes already and it was just posted last night after the game. 

A ton of girls followed her, some she didn’t even know. Honestly, she accepted almost every girl whose profile looked legit. She liked to follow girls from around the world, one day she would visit the countries they were from, and hey maybe one day she’d visit them. For now, it was just nice to have a feed full of beautiful smiling faces, and all the compliments they threw her way was a pretty good perk. 

By this time of day, close to seven at night, she would have already responded to about a dozen snap chats, and a few messages asking if she was single. Maybe she would have tossed a few winky faces to a few girls who had the courage to slide into her DMs. She would have had a date for this weekend. Maybe someone from a different school, she would drag Kelley along, forced her to drive forty-five minutes to go get pizza with a couple of cheerleaders, then split up for twenty minutes to make-out with those girls, maybe even a little bit more.

That was her normal Thursday night routine but for some reason, she was not on the same path as usual. It was almost the start of the weekend and instead of trolling around to find some random girl to keep her company, Tobin was sitting at her desk adding a freshman to her friends' list. Not just any freshman, her new friend Jake. At first, she was going to friend him for the sole reason of finding his sister's page, but after the day she had, she was happy to add him as an actual friend and not just a stepping stone to the one girl plaguing her mind. 

Christen Press, she was something else. This girl was immune to Tobin’s charms. She could withstand the million-dollar smile and walk away from her smooth alto voice asking for the pleasure of her company. Christen had some kind of superpower, not only did she turn Tobin down hardcore without batting an eye, but she simultaneously captured Tobin’s full attention. 

This has only happened once in her entire life, it was with the first girl she ever liked, and it was in the third grade. Tobin spent the better half of that year following a pretty blonde named Amanda all over the classroom. Sure she didn’t know then why she needed to stick to her like a magnet, why she had to be in the same share circle, or why their sleeping bags had to be next to each other; all she knew was Amanda with her big blue eyes, had her trapped like a fly in a web and she was completely okay with it. 

Not shockingly, Amanda broke her poor little gay heart by accepting Eric Melton’s Valentine’s Day card with the stupid pink chalk heart that said ‘be mine.’ Pink was the worst flavor, Eric needed to step his game up. Tiny Tobin stayed up all night cutting the perfect heart shape from pink construction paper and writing Amanda’s name on it in her best handwriting, and that girl didn’t even care. Whatever that was then, and this was now, and Christen was the focus. 

Normally she would just give up, but it didn’t feel like an option for her. As much as she didn’t believe in chasing a girl who didn’t want to be chased, she knew Christen was interested, she was just playing hard to get. Tobin could work with that. She could keep her distance while also making her intention’s known. She didn’t plan on giving up the chase unless Christen explicitly told her so, and there were no signs of that so far. But she was going to need a little help.

<<<< How To Get Girls: Get Some Help >>>> 

__  
_“Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back to my channel. I’m Tobin Heath and I’m here to give you some tips on how to meet, talk to and get women to agree to go on a date with you. If this is the first video you are watching, you should know my one big rule is: if you are watching this you must be a decent human being. None of my advice should be used to trick women into sleeping with you or taking advantage of anyone. Everyone in this world deserves respect and I’m here to teach you how to get a woman to notice you and be interested in you, and the only way that’s possible is for you to be a decent person who respects her and everyone else around you._

_Disclaimer and introduction over. Let’s get into the next topic. I have already given some instructions on how to get a girl to take a first look at you. Then I ranted about how to get a girl to come up to you and start a conversation. If you didn’t watch those videos, the link is in the description below, go check them out. Trust me you’re going to need the skills from the previous instructions to get these steps down. _

_“What are you talking about Tobin?” _

_I’ll tell you. One of the most useful tools in anyone’s arsenal, The Wingman! That’s right, you need to get a wingman, and a good one. If you are watching these videos it means you’re most likely shy, even if you can get a girl over, you wouldn’t know what to say. What’s the best way to combat this? With friends! Yes, a good friend by your side can ease your anxiety, help you find the right words, and talk you up. Not to mention, if the girl you like has a friend with her, then your wingman can be there to entertain the friend as you try to make your move._

_So what are the steps to finding a wingman? Well, let’s first ask some basic questions: Can a wingman be just any friend? How do you find a good wingman? What’s the job of a wingman? _

_First: Can a wingman be just any old friend? _

_Yes and No. It’s kind of a complicated topic. My wingman is my best friend, but that doesn’t have to be true for every situation. A wingman can be someone who knows you pretty well, and you can trust to have you back, and your best interest at heart. A wingman also has to share the same basic values, which means they have to be a decent human, they should be kind and genuine. Maybe your best friend doesn’t possess these traits, and that’s cool, they might not be the person you want by your side when you are trying to talk to the pretty girl at school. _

_“But why?” _

_Because you’re only as good as the company you keep. If your friend is rude and treats a woman like trash then all the girls are going to think you’re the same way. Why else would you hang out with a terrible person? Remember, you only get one first impression, you don’t have time to explain that your grumpy gus of a bestie is a pretty cool guy. You get one chance, so make it count. Pick a good friend, that matches your values and energy level._

_“My energy level? Why does that matter, Tobin?” _

_I’ll tell you. You’ve just done all this work to get a girl to come over and talk, you’re giving off laid back vibes then all of a sudden your wingman goes from a 2 to a 10 in five seconds and scares her off. So if you’re a calm individual and you want to attract calm women, then you need a calm wingman. If you’re hyper and want a girl that has a bunch of energy your wingman should give off the same vibe. _

_That brings us to question number 2: How do you find a good wingman?_

_Surprisingly, it’s kind of like finding a girl. You want to give off a good vibe, so he or she knows what you’re all about and maybe they want to hang out with you. As I said, you don’t have to be best friends, but you should know things about each other. How else will they talk you up? They could always lie, but that’s against the rules. You don’t want someone telling a lie about you, and you have to live up to it. This means you should get to know your wingman, so when they tell a girl that you’re great, they are telling the truth. _

_Go places with people doing the activities you like to do. My best friend and I play soccer. We also like to skate, so it’s easy to meet cute skater girls at the skate park. Maybe you’re into music, go find the guy in the band t-shirt and ask talk to him. Get to know people. You never know who’s going to turn out to be your perfect wingman. Hey, maybe the kid carrying the giant tuba case is good at telling stories and isn’t afraid to talk to girls. She could be the one to tell your story. Take chances. Meet people. Put yourself out there. _

_Listen, your wingman doesn’t have to be the same person every single time. Some people are better in certain situations. Take my best friend Kelley for instance. She is the best when we are at a chill party and meets random girls but she is terrible if I’m talking to a girl after a soccer game. At that time she’s all hyped up on adrenaline and can’t control half the things she says. So if I see a pretty face in the crowd, maybe catch her checking me out on corner kicks, after the game I grab my buddy Emily and we go over and have a calm conversation. But I wouldn’t take Emily to a party because she hates crowds. See how that works?_

_Now to answer question number three: What’s the job of a wingman?_

_The sole purpose of having a wingman is to help you project the great qualities in yourself that you may not know how to show. Take me for instance, I may be the expert, but I can get stumped by a pretty face sometimes and that’s where my wingman comes in. Kelley has the unmatched ability to bring up soccer no matter what the topic of discussion. This leads to talking about being athletic, and the type of girls I dig, like athletes. For her, I know to bring up the time she fell off a cliff. Disclaimer, she landed in the water. But this gives her the chance to talk about hiking and adventures, and the type of girls she digs, like adventurers. That’s the job of a wingman._

_The next job is, to help get girls to come over to you if you’re too shy to try. This means, if you are two of the seven dwarfs and you’re Bashful, your wingman should be Happy. If you’re quiet, your wingman should know how to talk and how to get you to talk. And the opposite is true. If you’re talkative, your wingman should know strategic point to chime in. If you’re outgoing, your wingman should be able to step back and let you have to spotlight. That being said, they should also know when to stop you whenever you’re about to make a fool out of yourself. This means, stopping you from going overboard with jokes, keeping you out of trouble, and making sure you’re always treating girls right._

_With all this, you should now be able to catch on to the idea that if you have a good wingman, it means you need to be a good one too. Don’t leave your buddy hanging. If they talked you up to a girl, made you look good, helped you get a date, you return the favor. If you see your friend taking things too far, it’s your job to step up and get them out of the situation. Remember it’s better to be the person that stops them, than the one that stands by while they make a bad choice. Look after your wingman, take care of them, and if you picked a good one, they will do the same for you. _

_Also, and I hope this goes without saying, but no competing. Do not call dibs on a girl, that’s insane and gross. Women are not objects. If you both fancy a girl and you both want to go after her, as a rule, you should both take a step back. If she chooses one of you under her own free will, without interference, then respect her choice and help your wingman out. I don’t believe in ‘bro’s before hoes’ because it’s barbaric, but I do believe in making sure your friend is in a good place, and never doing anything you know for a fact will hurt them. _

_My rule of thumb when it comes to the ‘bro code’ is: A random girl isn’t worth wrecking good friendship, but friendship isn’t worth a girl being disrespected, no matter if she’s random or not. Remember that._

_So that’s the end of this video, I hope it helps, I hope I’m helping. If you have a wingman and they need some help with the ladies, go ahead and give them the link to my page. If you are looking for a new wingman than look down in the comments there are plenty of girls and guys that seem like they could use a local friend to help them out. Please like and subscribe, and share these links with all the other good people in your life. Until next time, have a good time and be a decent human. Later.”  
_

<<<< ———>>>> 

This video would have to go through some edits. She still wasn’t sure if she should mention Kelley and Emily’s name, she could check on that a little later. It had only been a week, and her view count had gone into the thousands. Sure most of that was probably a few of her hundred followers rewatching content, but it still felt good to see the numbers rising. This meant she was a step closer to getting a sponsor to offer her a few bucks a video to say their product name a few times before she got to the real stuff.

There was that, and also the hope she was helping people. She wasn’t a genius or some kind of love guru, but she had pretty good philosophy when it came to talking to girls, and she hoped someone would adopt it and find some happiness. She may have been destined to be some famous soccer star, at least that’s what all the adults in her life were telling her, but Tobin knew what her true purpose was. She was supposed to help people, to bring some joy into the world. Maybe these videos were the way. She could help a few hundred lonely lovers out there, and one specific one she pretty much got tricked into helping directly. 

She finally got her car in the shop, she mowed the lawn and cleaned out the gutters for the money, but it was worth it. This would be her final day of waiting around for Kelley to finish up arguing with her ex-girlfriend. Today's wait wasn’t too bad, after all, she did get into a short conversation with a girl named Iris, whom she had spent a few days a year ago. She almost took the smooth talker up on her offer to give her a ride home, but for some reason, she decided against it and stayed waiting outside at the top of the steps. 

It was a good choice because her new friend came walking up, his backpack so full it looked like it might take over his body. He looked happy, like maybe the giant pack was filled with gold, a smile wide on his face as he stopped just short of where she was standing and let the sack slide off his shoulder and his the ground.

“Waiting again?” 

“Yup, but today should be the last day.” She leaned against the stone wall, trying to look cool and casual just in case Christen made an appearance. “I pick up my car tonight. I’ll be driving myself home from now on.”

“I can’t wait until I can drive.” He pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. “Hey, maybe you can give me a ride home sometime.”

“Yeah, sure,” she didn’t see why not, after all, they were turning out to be decent friends. Jake had sent her a private message the other day, and they ended up exchanging phone numbers, now they sent memes back and forth. He may have been a few years younger, but he was smart and mature for his age, and funny when you got him going. “Hey Jake, I need to tell you something.”

He looked up, his lips pressing together, making the few mustache hairs he possessed stick up. “Yeah, what’s up.”

“Now, I don’t want you to think this is going to affect our friendship,” she started, needing to be as delicate as possible. She had an idea maybe she wasn’t the first person to spring this on the poor guy. “But your sister is…”

“I know.” His head fell, the happiness he once had seemed to float out of his body with the mention of his sister. “Everyone thinks that.”

“Well, dude, I hate to break it to you, but,” she stopped, watching him look up a little worried. There was a time in her life when she was in his position, looking up at older guys and having to explain that Katy or Perry was in relationships. She decided she wasn’t going to put him through the same thing when he most likely had been going through for a few years. “You know what? Forget it. It doesn’t matter.”

His shoulders rolled back, “What? You don’t think she’s pretty?”

“No I do,” Tobin said quickly, a little shocked at how quickly he went to defend his sister. This was definitely the type of dude she wanted to be friends with. “I think she’s the most beautiful girls I’ve ever seen, but…” a sharp breath came out as she settled in her decision. “I don’t want you to feel like you and I are only friends because of her. I want to be your friend because I think you’re awesome.”

“Wow.” He gave a proud look, his chin going up in the air. “No one’s ever picked me over Chris before.”

“No?” Tobin chuckled, clapping his shoulder. “How does it feel?”

He gave a quick nod, “Pretty good.”

“That’s good,” she slapped his shoulder one more time before taking a step back. “Well, how was school?”

“Crappy,” he said quickly, then adjusted in his stance and quickly added. “I’ll help you.”

Tobin lowered her eyebrows. “In school?”

“No,” he giggled, shaking his head at her confusion. “With Chris. If you want.”

This made Tobin stand up straight, “Really, you’d do that.”

He shrugged, “I don’t know how much I can help, she doesn’t listen to me.”

“That’s okay, I just need a tiny bit of information so I know I’m not barking up the wrong tree.” She could feel her adrenaline spike. It was nice to get the offer of help instead of her feeling sleazy and asking. “She is into girls, right?”

“Yeah but she usually dates jerks,” his face twisted at the words. He seemed to be disappointed in the information. 

Tobin puffed out her chest, “I’m not a jerk.” 

“And that’s why I’ll help you,” he looked up at her like she was some kind of mysterious wonder like she held the answer to life’s biggest questions. “Can I ask you for something?”

“Of course, dude. Anything?”

Nervously he kicked his foot, “Can you help me find a date for Homecoming?”

Tobin laughed out loud, her hand going back to his thin shoulder. “Jake my boy, you have come to the right person. That’s the easiest thing you could have asked.” They shared a smile and a quick laugh. “You point of a few options and I will help you pick the one that’s right for you, and get her to say yes.”

“Awesome!” He cheered looking as if he was a millisecond away from giving a fist pump before he thought better of it. “I’ll try to talk to Chris for you, but as I said, she doesn’t listen to me.”

“That’s okay, I just need to know I have a chance, I can figure out the rest.” Before she could say anything else, the ethereal voice from the other day called out again and Tobin again was frozen in her tracks. 

She looked up to the tree’s about twenty feet away. Christen had decided not to come closer, looking behind her to a blue BMW still running in the pickup lot across the grassy quad. Tobin thought maybe the angle in black jeans didn’t want to talk to her, but she could see a smile on her face whenever they made eye contact from distance. Christen was holding back, but it wasn’t from lack of interest, so Tobin decided to do what Tobin does best. 

“Hey, Christen!” She shouted, waving her hand like a dork. 

This made that small smile crack into a large grin. Christen waved back. “Hi, Tobin!” She shouted, looking around to see if anyone was watching. 

Yes, people were watching. In fact, they stopped to witness the exchange between their fearless ladies man and the new girl. Tobin lifted her head and yelled, “How are you?”

Still smiling, her hands now going to her back pockets, a few nerves showing, Christen responded in the same playful tone. “I’m good! How’re you?”

“I’m amazing!” She held her arms out a little. No shame in peacocking when engaging in a public display of affection with a gorgeous girl who was clearly both embarrassed and loving the attention. “I like your shirt!”

Her curly hair falling into her face, Christen looked down at the simple grey shirt she was sporting. “Thank you!” She moved to tuck her hair behind her ear, a move Tobin thought was both precious and incredibly sexy all at once. “Come on, Jake.” She said in a lower voice. 

Tobin looked down at her friend. “I’ll see you later dude.”

“You know she going to think you’re a dork, right?” He said after watching the whole exchange. 

Tobin grinned, looking over to Christen for a split second. “Oh yeah, I know.” She chuckled, as she turned back to the kid. “Trust me, I got this.”

“Okay,” he exaggerated, then grabbed his bag from the ground. “See you tomorrow.”

“See ya,” Tobin said. She watched as Christen's head went back and forth between Tobin and the other people who were standing around seeing if the popular athlete would continue to make a fool out of herself. She wasn’t done, not yet. She called back out. “See you later Christen!”

This made her laugh, it was light and not full force, the kind of laugh that was both at and with a person. Then she waved as she turned to the side, “Bye Tobin!”

Never turning, not wanting to miss a single moment that involved the dream girl, Tobin stood with her hands on her hips like Supergirl. She left the silly grin plastered on her face, she could have stopped, but one she didn’t want to, and two because a few seconds later Christen turned her head to look at her. Of course, Tobin waved like a little kid, which made the dark-haired girl chuckle to herself and wave back, before turning back around. 

She may not know exactly what to do just yet, but Tobin was good at working some things out when it came to women. Jake said, she usually dated jerks and judging from the slight grudge, yet stylish way she dressed, Christen wasn’t afraid to be seen in public. But a jerk would never make themselves into the school fool just to get her attention, so maybe this was the best strategy to get her to take another look in Tobin’s general direction and get her to smile. And guess what? It worked.


	4. Communication: Talking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's been so amazing. Thank you so much.

“Yeah, mom. I get it.” Tobin called out of her door. “It won’t happen again.”

The lack of response meant her mother was done lecturing her, so Tobin was allowed to close her door over. She tossed her bag following it as it hit the bed, her face buried in her pillow. She had just gotten through a ten-minute talk about the importance of being on time. She deserved it after all this was the third time she was late for something in the last twenty-four hours. She was usually pretty punctual, but time got away from her today, and she was distracted twice. Nevertheless, she was late, and thus deserved the lecture. 

Still, she was slightly annoyed, as she had been the majority of her day. So she laid face down breathing in the scent of her own shampoo in the pillow. If she were to flip over she could see her room, clean with everything in order. Over the weekend she took the time to actually clean the place up. It was the first weekend in a long time she didn’t have plans. Surprisingly she failed to secure a date for Saturday night, which meant she stayed home and out of boredom organized all her stuff. 

It wasn’t that she couldn’t get a date, she could have called someone up last minute, made an excuse and been driving some girl to the movies within a few seconds. There were always girls looking to spend a few hours in her back seat, especially now that her car was fixed. She could have called up Kelley and asked where a party was, and no doubt been at some random person’s house chatting up some stranger and maybe been locked in a backroom trying her best to do what she loved in the few minutes she could get alone. All of these scenarios were a possibility, but she chose to go through all the papers she stuffed in her desk drawer.

Sunday night she tried to figure out why she was so bored, and why the hell the most popular girl in school spent an entire weekend binge-watching Dr. Who and steam cleaning her carpet. Then her friend texted her, the new guy in her life she was starting to like more and more. He was turning fifteen on Thursday and having a birthday party the following Saturday. Of course, Tobin said she would be there, after all, they were now officially good friends, and she suddenly found herself not wanting to go out on the weekends. 

Most of this had to do with one single person. Not a person, an idea, something that incepted its way into her brain and stayed like a parasite. The idea of getting to talk to Christen Press. How in the world did she become so consumed with the simple idea of talking to a girl? It was a mystery wrapped in an enigma floating in a conspiracy pool. 

There was a theory, one she worked out with Kelley and Emily over text. No girl turned her down, unless they were in relationships, or not into women at all. Most of the time when a girl was ‘straight’ they were willing to bend those rules, color the black line a little grey just for Tobin and her skills. But Christen wasn’t straight, Tobin had hard evidence. She received verbal confirmation from her younger brother, now her secret wingman and best guy friend. Plus she saw Christen’s Instagram and saw all the LGTBQ posts she made. Christen Press was gay, and yet she was not affected by Tobin bating her big doe eyes when they spoke. 

But here was the thing. She was interested. Christen was definitely interested in her, she could tell, it just wasn’t the normal way. When they did speak, which wasn’t that often, Christen always smiled, she laughed at Tobin’s silly jokes, and she always turned back around after walking away. Unless everything Tobin had learned in the last four years had been some conspiratorial lie, this mystery wonder woman was definitely into her, so why the lukewarm shoulder? Why not accept her invitations to hang out? Maybe it was Tobin. For the first time in a long time, Tobin figured it had to be her.

<<<< How To Get Girls: Communication >>>> 

_“Welcome back ladies, gentlemen, and absolutely everyone else. I’m Tobin Heath and I’m here to give you some tips on how to get girls. The page is dedicated to one thing: getting a girl to notice you, come up to you, and agree to a date with you. I have one rule for my page: you have to be a decent human being. I can see from some of the comments I’m among some like-minded individuals, who love women and believe in making this world a great place full of respect and admiration for everyone. It’s nice to see. I’m glad the world isn’t such a crap hole. _

_Today I’m going to go over something I suspect most of you have the most trouble with. I’ve decided to break it up into two videos, one right now, and the next one coming in a few days. The topic is Communication. I wanted to split it because there are two key elements to effective communication, the first one is talking and the other is listening. Both of these things take a great deal of explanation and I’m trying to keep these videos under ten minutes if I can. _

_So, I’ve already covered the initial things needed to get a girl to want to talk to you. If you didn’t watch the last videos and you want to, which you should, visit the links below and check them out. If you’ve already watched and have mastered the skill of getting a girl to notice you, by being decent, kind and genuine. And you’ve mastered body language and how to get a girl to approach you. And you’ve found your perfect wingman, it means you are ready to communicate with the fairer sex. In this video, I’m going to teach you how to speak. In the next video, I will teach you how to listen. Sound good? Awesome._

_I’m going to give a disclaimer right here, right now. Not all women are the same, this means, not every girl is going to react the same way to what you say to them, so be careful, learn your audience and use your powers wisely. As we go through this, remember all girls are special, and while these are general rules that can help grease a conversation, as you move forward with a girl, start tailoring things to her specifically. _

_Okay, great. Let’s go to Step One: Introduction. _

_If you approach a girl or say you entice her to approach you, the first thing you need to do is introduce yourself. This means you must know what name you are going by. _

_“What does that mean Tobin?”_

_Good question. Some people go by nicknames. It may seem simple, but you need to pick one name. If you want to go by a nickname, then pick it and stick with it. There’s nothing wrong with giving yourself a nickname, but if you do make sure your wingman knows, and make sure you’re comfortable being called that name in public. My name is Tobin, my friends call me Tobs or Toby, but I would never introduce myself like that because the name is reserved for friends and family. I have a friend, her name is Julie, and her last name starts with a J so everyone calls her JJ and she introduces herself to girls as JJ. It’s been this way since I’ve known her, it’s simple, easy and makes her sound kind of cool. So if your name is Tyler Jones and you want to go by Ty, or TJ, or Jonsey, then pick one and stick with it. _

_How do you introduce yourself? At first, be generic, don’t try to be crazy creative in the very beginning, just say normal words. “Hello, my name is Tobin.” Or “Hey, I’m Tobin.” That’s easy. Get yourself in the door. What I mean is, if you come off as strange or creepy with the first sentence, or standing at the doorstep, she is not going to let you get a second sentence out, or she will close the door in your face. So instead of trying to impress her with an introduction, just get in the door. A simple Hello goes a long way. _

_Then she will say her name. LISTEN TO HER NAME! Don’t forget it. If you need to repeat it then say it in a sentence like: “Nice to meet you, Jennifer.” Or something like “Brianna is a great name.” Saying her name lets her know you’ve heard her, and you remember. It’s that easy. _

_So what’s step two? Do you buy her a drink?_

_No, you’re in high school, not a twenty-something at a bar. So how in the world do you start a conversation if you don’t have social lubricant to help you out? You have two options. _

_Option 1: Choose a popular conversation topic almost everyone has an opinion on, but you can also show your own interest. So what do I mean by that? I’m interested in sports, skating, and generally being outdoors, so I might start a conversation out like this: “It’s getting kind of cold outside, it’s going to be sweater weather soon.” That’s generic, it’s easy, and everyone has an opinion about the cold, love or hate it. It’s a simple way to just get words out, and hopefully, you can go off of her opinion. _

_I like option one because it’s safe. Saying something about the weather, or school, or puppies; all safe topics. But it can also be a tricky road. If you start off with the weather you need to be able to transition into something more interesting. Which means you need to have a second topic on the cuff and ready to go. _

_Example: Maybe she answers with something like “Yeah I like the cold.” Then I would say, “I think I love the cold because I can be all wrapped up and comfy in the house watching Netflix and not feel bad about being lazy.” That’s something about me I just added, and hopefully, she’ll add to it. If not then I’ll ask a question: “Are you binging a show right now?”_

_That’s option one, and it should be easy enough to flow into a simple safe conversation. What’s the other option? Well, I’m going to tell you it’s a little riskier, but it can have a great pay off if you execute correctly. _

_Option 2: Choose a specific subject she’s clearly interested in. This one is hard because it means you either have to know the girl, or she has to be doing or wearing something you can pick up on. Say a girl is wearing a band t-shirt, you could go up to her and say something like “Hey I like your shirt. I love AC/DC.” The problem with this is, maybe she’s just wearing the shirt and doesn’t know or like the band. Or maybe you have no idea who the band is, so you can’t have a full conversation about it. So you say, “I love Paramore,” it might lead her to ask what’s your favorite song, and if you don’t know then you look like a fool. _

_There is a lot more risk to this move, but the payoff can be greater. You could end up in a conversation that not only sparks both of your interests but also bonds you. If she likes music or hiking, this is also a good way to invite her out on a date. _

_“Wow, a date? Tobin, I’m not ready.”_

_I know you’re not, and that’s okay, but it is a good stepping stone. Talking to women is hard, and it can be even tougher if you’re not prepared. I don’t suggest winging it, then you might say something stupid, or god forbid, offensive. It’s best to have some kind of plan. Choose one of the options; generic or specific, and then go in. Now don’t just dive headfirst, test the waters, after all, there’s a chance that she doesn’t even want to have a conversation. _

_Say you catch yourself at a party, and you go up to a girl and try to talk, but she blows you off. That’s okay, maybe she came to just dance with her friends. The only thing you need to do acknowledge her not wanting to speak to you and walk away. Maybe if you can, offer to talk at a later time, and by this I mean, if you go to the same school, you can say something like “I’ll see you in school sometime.” It lets her know you understand she doesn’t want to be bothered but also gives you an opening to maybe try again in a few days. It’s okay to leave yourself an opening as long as you’re not weird about it. _

_My best advice when it comes to approaching a girl is, make sure she seems receptive. By this, I mean read her body language. If she’s standing with an open receptive stance, maybe making eye contact with others, maybe even you, there’s a good chance she might be open to a conversation. If she’s standing in a closed of position, maybe let her be, sometimes girls are just out to have a good time and not to be hit on._

_“Tobin you just blew my mind.”_

_I know. So that’s the basics of talking to a girl. Once you’re in a conversation, try to stick with the basic topics, don’t argue. It’s cool to have a good debate, but arguing straight off the bat is a bad sign. Try to stay away from controversial topics at first, maybe save that for the third time you guys talk. And remember it’s okay to talk to a girl, and not get her number. Surprisingly it’s kind of cool to have girls that are just your friend. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there, and take rejection like a champ. _

_That’s all I have for now. As I said, I want to keep these videos short and leave you with the basics. Talking is such a personal thing, you really have to find what makes you comfortable. But at least you know how to get in the door, even if you don’t get to stay the night. Right? I don’t know, bad joke. _

_I’ll be answering some comments on the next video when I cover listening. Until then, have a great day and be a decent human. Later guys._

——— 

All in all the videos seemed to be going pretty well. She had more followers now than yesterday, and more comments were popping up. She took the time to respond to the direct questions, not wanting to leave anyone hanging. But she was going to save the really great ones for a question and answer time on the next video, after all, she wanted to make sure everyone got the answers, seeing as a lot of people don’t read the comments.

As she edited the content, after looking up a few tips and tricks on YouTube, her mind instantly went to Christen. It seemed like her mind was always going there lately, not that she really minded. She liked thinking about the confident girl who shook her world. Even if it made her rethink everything she knew. She had never had her self-image shaken so much, though it all felt very worth it whenever it crossed her mind. 

"I know," Tobin ran through the locker room, throwing her bag on the bench.

"You're late," Kelley laughed, watching her friend panic. "That's laps, dude.”

"I know," the frantic girl repeated, shooting her friend an evil glance. "Get out of here, or you'll being doing laps too.”

Nodding, a grin still plastered to her face, Kelley spun on her heels and headed for the door. "Better hurry up, dude.”

Tobin's head was already buried in her gym bag, "I know!" she shouted again.

She was late and she knew it. This was becoming some kind of a habit, one she needed to figure out how to break. The truth was, her mind was all over the place, but she had a legitimate excuse for being late this time. She had just spent the better part of the half an hour between the end of school and the start of practice craning her neck down watching as her math teacher pointed out all the things she did wrong on her latest test. She also spent it begging the extremely kind educator to give her a third chance to bring up her grade. It would be extra credit for the rest of the year, but it was whatever it took to keep her grade above a C and keep her eligible to play soccer.

Being late was becoming a problem, but she would only be a few minutes late which meant she would only have to run two laps. If she could just get her compression shorts on, and pull her sleeves over her shin guards she could get out there before her coach's head exploded and she was left running for the rest of practice.

Half her gear on, her hands rummaging through the hastily packed gym bag looking for her practice shirt Tobin heard footsteps coming towards her. Soccer cleats had a distinctive sound they made when they hit the tile floor, and these did not sound like some players rushing in to grab something from their locker, it sounded like street shoes. Tobin picked up her head expecting to see some random person coming in, but was pleasantly surprised.

The sound was from a beat-up pair of black converse leading up to rolled-up light blue jeans. Tobin trailed her eyes up to a flowing white shirt that popped against brown sugar skin. She could pick the unique curl pattern of the shiny dark brown locks out of a lineup. Of course, the smile gave her away, while standing Tobin's nerves on end. Christen was having the same effect she always had, making the supposed ladies’ man freeze in her tracks.

But here's the thing, Tobin knew she couldn't be this way forever. She couldn't freeze every time she saw her, or only yell from across the quad, she had to actually speak to her, or her chances of ever getting this punk-zen princess to give her the time of day would fly out the window like a bird finally free.

Here's the other thing, she was topless right now. She was standing in her mid-thigh soccer shorts and a sports bra. If there was a look she was confident in, it was half dressed with her abs on full display. So she summed up her confidence and waited for the girl to notice her.

"Oh," Christen said with a sudden smile creeping on her face. “Hey.”

Tobin pretended like she hadn't clocked her the moment she came into view. Standing up, and possibly flexing a little more than normal, she gave a quick upwards head nod, the cockiest thing she could think to do. "Hey, what are you doing here?"

Green eyes flickering down for more than a few seconds, Christen took a sharp breath in, pretending she didn't look down. "I have Gym last period. I left my phone in my locker.”

"Ah, I see.” Casually leaning against the locker, Tobin fooled with the shirt in her hands. She could have easily slipped it over her head, actually gotten dressed, but she was enjoying the way Christen seemed to be squirming just the slightest. "So what are you up to this weekend?”

"Are you going to put a shirt on?" Christen was at her locker just a few down from Tobin’s, her fingers twisting the dial around. She missed the first few numbers, looking over to the topless girl and trying her best to not look down at her bare stomach.

Tobin's plan was in motion, and it was working like a charm, “Possibly." She put on her best smile, making sure her eyes were doing that dreamy thing she knew girls like.

Frustratingly Christen pulled at her lock not hearing that click sound. Sighing she tried her combination again. "I’m going to a party on Saturday.”

"Right," she knew about this party, she's had long conversations about it. She was even forcing a lot of the older soccer players to go. "Jake's birthday party. I will also be attending this party.”

Finally getting her locker open, Christen got her phone and shut the door. "I guess I'll see you there.”

Making sure to squeeze her muscles one good time as the other girl turned fully to look at her, Tobin gave another quick smile, "I guess you will.”

They locked eyes, the incredibly erotic, yet wholesomely innocent dance between two people who clearly wanted something to happen between them, but both resisting for some stupid reason. Christen stood with her phone gripped in her hand, keeping those remarkably green eyes trained on Tobin's honey brown eyes, looking almost in pain as she put all her energy into looking straight forward.

Tobin almost thought she lost the battle, that maybe the girl she had been chasing for weeks was much stronger than she imagined. Christen was already proving to have Avengers level superhero strength when it came to resisting her usual charms, but Tobin hoped her body would push her over the edge. Maybe she was wrong.

But then, those eyes, the ones so magical looking into them were like being transported to another universe, they finally dropped, landing on those tight little muscles sitting just under the smooth expanse of tan skin. And Tobin knew she won. Then the eyes flicked back up, and the cherry on top of the victory was Christen biting the corner of her bottom lip.

This was her chance, Tobin should ask her out now, quickly before the effect of being half-naked wore off. She was ready to speak before a shocking voice rang through the locker room.

“Heath!"

Tobin stood up straight like someone shoved up poll up her spine. "Yeah, coach?!”

"Get your butt out here, right now!”

"Yes, coach,” she quickly pulled her shirt over her head, too panicked to refocus on the girl watching her scramble to get dressed.

Christen, now returning to her normal state of mind, gave her signature grin, one that was both with and at Tobin. "Guess you should get your butt out there.”

"I know," she said in a sweeter tone than she had been saying it when she first arrived in the locker room. Flipping around she shoved her bag into locker she could feel the eyes on her. She wasn't half-naked anymore, but she knew she was still nice to look at, and the feeling of Christen figuring that out made her lateness fully worth it. "See you on Saturday.”

Christen watched as the soccer player ran towards the outer door, "See you then." She bit her bottom lip again as Tobin gave a wink then disappeared through the door.

Tobin was of course as late as she's ever been, but running a 10k had never been so worth it.


	5. Communication: Listening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys sorry this took so long.

Tobin strolled into her room, her window was open letting the cool fresh air flow in. She plopped down in her desk chair, wincing a bit as she landed. She was the proud owner of a bruised rib and a sore wrist, one well deserved after the day she had. 

It was a strange Saturday, the type she hadn't had in a few years. Good clean fun was hard to come by in her life, normally everything she did lead to some kind of adult fun, even though she wasn't quite an adult just yet. Still, her weekends were filled with pretty faces all laid horizontal, or staring down at her, but today was different, and even though she was sure her soccer game would be a little affected by her new injury, it was well worth it. 

There's something to be said about going to a friend’s house, playing games and laughing so much you thought you'd pass out. There's a distinct joy in cracking jokes, and smiling so much your cheeks will be sore for days. This was the type of fun she used to have with Kelley, Emily, and JJ when they were in middle school before her pants got tighter and her shirts got lower necklines and they all decided girls were the most important thing in the world. 

Still, girls were important, well at least one was. Tobin leaned back, taking a shallow breath, trying to get air but not hurt herself. Christen was on her mind, the same way she had been for the last few weeks. Christen was the only thing she could think of, everything in her life leads to the mind-blowing girl with the curly brown hair. Seriously, if you gave her a topic she could easily link it to this wonder woman. Once Kelley was talking about how much she hated pepperoni pizza, and Tobin thought about if Christen liked pepperoni pizza and that spiraled into her trying to find a way to ask Christen to homecoming. 

This girl, this woman, this freaking mystery was the only person in history to capture the full attention of Tobin, so much so that she would dream about her. Man what dreams. Tobin had this idea that kissing Christen must have been something akin to hanging onto a flimsy poll during a tornado. She imagined it would be like running from lava spewing out a volcano. Or it could be like driving a hundred miles an hour down the freeway and not being certain your brakes work. Whatever it was, it had to be so awesome that she was willing to drag herself through a hallway filled with broken glass just to get Christen to look her way. She was willing to do almost anything for a second of her attention.

>>>> How to Get Girls: Communication 2: Listening <<<< 

"Hey what is going on my people? I'm Tobin Heath and if you’re on my channel, you have a single goal, and that’s to get a girl to notice you, talk to you and agree to go on a date with you. Are you in the right place?... Yes, you are, but it would be funny if you weren't. What if this was a video about how to ride your house of raccoons or something. I mean that would be helpful to someone, but not you.

Anyways. as Mulan says, let's get down to business. If you watched the last video then you know this is part two of a topic I feel needs some of the most attention hence why there are two parts. We are talking about communication, specifically how to talk to girls. This first video is all about talking, so if you didn't watch the first video you can go down to the description at the bottom and hit the link and take a look, I highly recommend you watch because a lot of what I'm saying now piggybacks off that video. While you're at it, go ahead and smash the like button, you know if you want to. 

The topic we are going to cover in Communication Volume 2 is Listening. That is the act of hearing words and processing them through your brain and coming up with a response. It can’t be that simple, and yet it is. The first thing you want to know about listening is to actually listen. Easy, right? Wrong, it's actually really hard. 

“But Tobin I listen all the time. I'm listening to you right now.”

Yes, you do and you are, but are you really? You see there are two types of listening and you can do one or the other, but I highly suggest you do one. The first one is listening to respond. This is when your friend is telling you a story that you don't really care about, maybe you've heard it before, and when they reach the end you say something like "Cool story." You just listened in anticipation of your turn to talk. That's listening to respond, and that's not what you want to do. 

What’s the second version, the one you want to do? That my friends is listening to comprehend. Yup that means actually hearing what they say, processing the information and understanding it. Only then can you give a thoughtful response. Yes, a thoughtful response, something that took some brain cells to come up with. This can be tricky when your brain might be stuck on the amazing fact that you're even talking to a girl, so the best thing you can do is take a breath, try to focus on her words and not her lips, and repeat what she said in your head before you speak. But don't take too long, you don't want some thirty-second delay before you respond. Try taking a sip of your drink if you're at a party, or just give a short hmm before saying something. Don't just stare blankly.

So what's a thoughtful response? It all depends on the girl, but most of the time it's a question. If there is one thing everyone has in common, girls, boys, everyone, they enjoy talking about themselves. So here's my best advice, when you have the opportunity to respond with a question. Don't make the conversation about you. So, if she says she likes music, ask her who her favorite artist is. If she says she loves cooking, ask her what’s her favorite thing to cook. If she likes reading ask about her favorite author. 

Now, there's a balance, if you ask too many questions, it's strange, so keep it as a two and one. What does that mean? Easy, for every two questions about her, give one fact about yourself. For example, if she likes music, ask what her favorite band is. She says Twenty One Pilots. You ask her favorite song. She says Heathens. You then say your favorite song is Ride. Now you can ask if she likes any other alt-rock bands. Keep this going for a little, lengthen the facts about yourself until you fall into a comfortable rhythm. 

What's a lengthy thoughtful answer. It might look something like this. 

Her: I like soccer.

You: Really? What's your favorite team?

Her: I like Arsenal.

You: Get out of here, I like Arsenal, who’s your player?

Her: Random Arsenal Player.

You: He's good no doubt. Have you ever seen an NWSL game? I love the Portland Thorns, I think If I could play for any team it would be them.

Now, this opens me up to talk about how I'm a soccer player. This also bonds us with a common interest, as well as allows me to ask her to a game at a later date. Don't panic, I will go over how to properly ask a girl on a date in another video. For now, focus on having meaningful conversations and listening to comprehend. 

One thing I want to hit on is having opinions. There are a lot of people who think they need to know everything and have an opinion, but that's not true. It’s perfectly acceptable to not know something or to not have thoughts on a subject. Sometimes girls talk to me and I have no clue what they are talking about. Admit you don’t know, then take one of two paths. Either ask for more information or try to skillfully change the subject. My go-to line is "I'm going to be honest, I have no idea what you're talking about." If she's cool, she'll laugh and either explain further or accept the subject change. Remember, you don't know everything, and you don't have to speak on everything, its cool to let some subjects go.

Now, what happens if you guys start talking and it turns out she's not the girl for you? Just like I said in the last video if she gives you the cold shoulder, take it like a champ. Simply end the conversation as politely as you can. You don’t have to lie, or pretend to get a phone call, just say something like "It was nice talking to you, I'm going to go back to my friends." Or if you have a good wingman, which you should, you can easily come up with a signal, like stretching your arms, then they will come over and pull you out, again as politely as possible. 

I know what you're thinking. I just got a girl to talk to me, why would I ever want to get out of the conversation. Let me tell you from experience, not every girl that sparks initial interest will continue to keep you engaged, and that's okay, there is plenty of fish in the sea. Maybe she'll be the one you want to spend the rest of the night talking to, or maybe not. 

The girl that gets you attention holds it and makes you never forget her, that's who you want to use all your magic powers on. And I will help you figure out a way to keep her interest and agree to a date with you... In the next video.

So, I wanted to end this by answering a few questions. The first one comes from, BatGuy04 and he asked: What if the girl you like is your friend?

Man, I have been there before, and that's a hard road to travel. You’re toying with the line of having a great relationship or having a great friendship, and who knows what you'll end up with if you don't ruin everything. But don't despair, I'm here to help. 

The best approach is to ask another mutual friend what they think. If they say it’s a no go, then maybe take a small step back and reassess, but make sure this friend is reliable. Now if you can’t help yourself, my other piece of advice is, to be honest. Let her know how you feel but make it clear that if she doesn’t feel the same, you still want to be friends. If she’s really a great girl and she doesn’t have feelings, she'll let you down easy and you two can move on. The biggest thing to remember here is, be sure this is what you want, you're taking a chance and it might backfire, so be one hundred percent sure this is exactly what you want. I hope that helps.

The next question is from SamImNot: You gave a tip on how to stop busy hands by playing with a quarter, but I have a nervous tick. Any tips to help?

Yeah, Sam, I got some tips. So if it's a noticeable tick, this is what you should do... be upfront of the jump. Now I know that sounds crazy, but hear me out. If it's something she is going to see the moment you two start talking, it’s best to bring it up. 

One of my friends has one hand, she was born without her left, so when she talks to girls it's the first thing she says. Literally, we will go up to a girl and start talking and she will say 'First off, I have one hand, let's just get that out there.' It's her icebreaker. It shows confidence, and it saves everyone the trouble of trying not to talk about it. So I suggest going up to a girl you like and say, "I think you're really pretty and I have a nervous tick whenever I get around pretty girls, so sorry if I twitch." You might even be able to work in something smooth like, "The prettier the girl, the more I twitch." It’s funny, it acknowledges what's happening, and it shows you have confidence in yourself.

Now if you're not comfortable talking about it straight up, then my advice gets kind of thin because I'm not a doctor and I can't speak on medical things. But I would say have your wingman help you out, maybe keep you calm so the tick is a little less. But everyone has a thing and I think owning it is the best option.

Next AliensUmoungUs asks: I go to an all-boys school. Where the girls at?

Dude, they are everywhere, except your school. Go out with your friends and find them. Seriously just go anywhere. Figure out what kind of girls you like first. Say you like hardcore girls, go to a skate park, or a concert or to a car show, or somewhere hardcore girls hang out. Maybe you like laid back zen girls. Take a yoga class, go to a frozen yogurt shop, or just go for a walk in the local park. The best thing is to figure out your type then find out where those girls hangout and just put yourself in that situation. Bring your wingman and get to talking.

The last question comes from JakeTheSnake0207: he asked: What if your wingman likes your sister. My answer to that J-Man is, be cool. If this person who likes your sister is awesome than help them out.

Well, that's all I have for now. Please if you take away anything from this video, it’s to listen to what people are saying and give a thoughtful response. Remember it's okay not to have an opinion on every subject, and it’s better to ask questions. Well, I hope I'm helping. If you have any other questions, hit me up in the comments, I will try to answer as many as I can. Thanks for watching, I’ll see you next time, remember to be a decent human. Later.

<<<< >>>> 

The videos were doing their job, at least monetarily they were. She was officially up to $240 in her Pateron. Now if she could just get some sponsors. It would be awesome to make just a little more, but if she didn’t at least she had a few bucks to go hang out. Maybe she could take Christen out.

There was a good chance she was making some headway with the whirlwind woman. She may have spent the day toying around with Jake and the soccer team, but she did have a good conversation with Christen. There was a good chance she even got her foot in the door, if not at the very least they would be friends. 

Tobin rolled up to the house about fifteen minutes past when the party was scheduled to start. She may have been working on being late, but she wasn't about to show up to a party first. Her present was draped over her arm, she was going to give it Jake as soon as she saw him, it deserved an explanation, and she wasn't going to give it in front of everyone. 

The Press house was impressive to say the very least. Being born in this town and never leaving, Tobin knew almost every house, and she was surprised the small family wanted something so large. It was a five-bedroom semi-new build. A year ago some big contractors came through and renovated, so maybe it was different now than Tobin remembered. Of course, the only memory she had of the interior was when she used to trick or treat on this street. 

But her excitement wasn't about seeing midcentury modern furnishing, or if walls had been torn down and moved, no the hairs on her arm were standing on in with the anticipation of seeing Christen in a setting other than school. If absolutely everything went right, maybe she could even see Christen's room. But that was only if everything went right. 

The entire drive to the party, Tobin had thought about what to say, how to approach her now that they would be outside of the usual setting an in something more intimate. She thought of scenarios that ended with her in Christen's bed, both of them trying to keep quiet as she rocked the world on its axis. 

Then she decided she was going to have to be better than she ever had been, better than that time she convinced those two girls to go to a hotel room with her during regional soccer finals last year. She was going to have to be better than she was when she talked an up-and-coming model, who shall remain nameless, to make out with her when Tobin was a sophomore and this model was a senior. Oh, yes her best game wasn't going to be enough, she was going to have to pull out all the stops and maybe invent some new ones. 

The backyard was filled with underclassman, all running around the way teenagers should. They were playing laser tag, hiding behind bushes and shooting plastic blasters, arguing whether the hit was good or not. Tobin looked around at the faces she knew, but the names were seeming to slip her mind for the time being, and finally located Jake, waving him over. 

"Tobin!" he popped up from behind the stone wall. "I'm on time out guys!" he held up his blaster, letting it flip on his finger showing he wasn't a threat in the game, then walked over to Tobin. "Hey, thanks for coming."

"Of course, dude." she held out her fist and waiting for the younger guy to do the new signature handshake they came up with a few days ago. "I have something for you." 

Her present was a leather jacket, one she bought after saving up all her summer allowance. She wore it almost every single day in her sophomore year, it felt like it gave her some luck that year. It was worn in, but still in great condition. 

Jake reached out for the jacket, eyes wide as he fisted the sides, taking it from his friend and holding it like the most precious thing in the world. "This is so awesome."

"It's mine from a couple of years ago. I have a new one. I thought you could use it." she felt a little sentimental watching as he took off his plastic vest from the game, and sling the jacket over his shoulders. "This brought me all the way through my first good year with the ladies. I thought maybe it could help you."

He looked up at her, "Are you saying this is your lucky jacket?"

"It was when I was your age," she grinned, clapping her hand down on his shoulder. "Looks good on you dude."

"Really?" he adjusted the sleeves a bit, they were hanging about a quarter of an inch past his palms. 

Tobin chuckled at how small he truly was, she couldn't remember a time when she was that small. "You'll grow into it, don't worry."

"Thank you so much," he threw his arms around her. "This is the best present in the world."

Her arms went around his thin shoulders, "Your welcome. I hope it brings you luck as it did for me."

Stepping back, he pretended to act cool, both of them straightening as if they didn't just share a moment. "Did you want to play laser tag?"

"I do, but..." she trailed off, looking around the yard for a particular person. 

"Chris is inside," he laughed, pointing up past the deck. "In the kitchen."

"Thanks, bro," she slapped his arm. "I'll be out to play laser tag in a little bit."

Making her way up the deck and to the door, Tobin could feel her hands shaking. She hadn't been nervous in so long, yet she was practically about to vibrate out of her Nikes. Sure, she spent a lot of time preparing, much like she did most days, but this brought her back to the days before she figured out the formula for the perfect pickup game.

She had most things planned out. She knew the clothes to wear, when to be casual and when to add a little formal flare. She knew her hair looked great down, but depending on the setting, it also looked great pulled back and a hat either backward or flipped up. Her white Nikes were a go-to, but so were her black boots, and her red converse. She knew all of this, so why did she get dressed six times today?

It didn't matter, the long sleeve fitted white t-shirt, and ripped basic blue jeans were going to have to be enough. Her instincts said to just be herself, but there was a tiny voice in the back of her mind that said she hoped Christen was impressed. 

The back door opened directly into the kitchen, Tobin closed it behind her and saw her dream girl at the island with a knife in her hands. She watched as she pulled some apples from a bag and started to cut them into sections. 

"Do you need some help?" Tobin asked. 

Christen jumped up, looking over to Tobin and letting out a puff of air. "Hasn't anyone ever told you not to sneak up on someone with a knife?”

"In my defense," she slid into the kitchen, "I didn't know you had a knife until after I scared you." she placed her forearms on the countertop, leaning forward. "And I also didn't mean to scare you."

Her green eyes cut across the tabletop, "I didn't think you'd show up." 

There was an air of frustration in her voice, it seemed to be grittier than usual, Tobin could hear it. She tried not to drop her happy tone. "I told you Jake and I are best buds."

The knife was laid flat on the cutting board, and Christen set her hand on the marble top, turning to face Tobin. She watched as the cocky kid straighten up getting the gist she was about to be serious. "If you're doing all of this as some kind of stupid game, I swear to god..."

"All what?" now she was concerned and a little confused.

"Jake," her answer was matched with her glance out the bay window to the kids outside playing. "If you're pretending to be his friend to..."

"Why would I do that?" now she was kind of offended. Then her memory clicked and she quickly jumped from defensive mode, back to her normal Tobin state of mind. "Chris, I promise I'm not pretending to be friends with your brother. I really like Jake, he’s genuine and it's nice to have that in my life. Sometimes people can be so fake with me, but not Jake." she softened her gaze in hopes that the protective sister bear would melt a tiny bit. "Plus he's hilarious."

She lowered her head, a small smile coming to her lips, "He is pretty funny." Looking up, her face had gone from concerned protector back to her calm self, but still with a gloss of worry over it. She pointed over to the bag of fruit on the counter, "You can do the oranges." 

Realizing they were back to some kind of normal, Tobin went to wash her hands, then grabbed the bag of fruit and a knife and started to cut. They were silent for a few minutes, Tobin struggled to get straight cuts for the first two oranges and Christen laughed at her. Finally, she decided it was time to break the silence and get them back on track. 

"Do you know where you're going to college yet?" that was a generic question, one she hoped would open a dialogue that lasted longer than a few time trapped sentences. 

She shrugged one shoulder, "I'm not sure." It was a strained answer, and she could see Tobin wanted more. "I've been accepted to Stanford, but I'm not sure I want to go."

"But that's like a top school," Tobin chuckled trying her best not to sound overly excited about what being accepted to an ivy league school meant about Christen. The idea that she was both drop-dead gorgeous and incredibly intelligent was working Tobin's mind into a fantasy that she needed to contain for the time being. "What's stopping you from going? Aren't you from California?"

Christen tensed at the question. "I am, and I would like to go back, I mean my entire life was there." That was not a natural end to a sentence. She took a breath, not looking up at the girl watching her. "But I'm not sure if I can leave my dad and brother."

That's why she looked a little wrecked. This must have been something she was grappling with. Tobin remembered having a conversation with Jake one day after school. The family moved here after their mom had passed away. It was sudden and shook all of them to their core. Suddenly their house felt empty, and the streets were lined with so many memories it was hard to walk in their town without bursting into tears. Because of this, their dad got a transfer to New Jersey and tried his best to take his kids away from the pain. It had been a year, and they were adjusting the best anyone could in the situation. 

"Jake told me about your mom," Tobin decided it was best to acknowledge instead of avoiding. "I can't imagine. I'm sorry."

"I'm okay," she looked up with a weak smile. It was clear she wasn't okay but wasn't in the mood to talk about why. "I just don't think I can leave them. They need me right now."

"Makes sense to me," she continued to chop the fruit. Christen seemed to want to have this intimate conversation without making it into a thing or making eye contact. "You can go somewhere close, maybe live at home."

Christen started to plate the apples, "That may be what I have to do. I know they won't survive without me. My dad doesn't even know how to cook a proper meal. I'm sure they would live off pizza and fried egg sandwiches."

"Nothing wrong with that," Tobin chuckled, thinking of all the mornings her dad struggled to cook them a notorious breakfast. "But, family comes first, right?"

Her eyes got wide at the words, Christen seeming to visibly relax. "Yes, family first."

They were done with the platter of food, all of the slices laid out, with grapes piled in the middle. Tobin could sense the conversation had come to an end, she could also sense all her chances to make it upstairs to see Christen's room were now out the window, but that was okay. 

Like a gentleman, Tobin took the heavy platter and followed the now more relaxed girl out to the deck, setting it down on the tables laid out. She helped straighten up some of the other food displays, and arrange the presents so they weren't falling off the edge. 

"Hey, Tobin!" A voice called out. Tobin turned to see Jake with all his friends standing around. "You ready to play?"

She looked over to Christen who held her hands in front of her signaling she didn't need help, but she also wasn't going to participate. Tobin looked back at the group, "Yeah, I'm coming."

Before she could walk away, Tobin felt a hand on her wrist, pulling gently. Christen locked in on her, their eyes meeting. "Thank you for listening."

Tobin slipped her wrist out enough to hold her hand loosely, "Anytime." she watched the hesitant smile come on her face. Giving the warm hand in hers a good squeeze she gave her own smile. "Seriously, Christen. Anytime you need someone to talk to, I'm here." she was ready for a response, but typical of all her time with this girl, she was interrupted. 

"I heard this is the place to play laser tag!" Kelley came through the wood gate, the rest of the upperclassman on the team following behind her. "Who's ready to get stomped?"

Tobin watched as the younger kid's eyes got wide, one boy whispering to Jake the question of how he got the popular seniors and juniors at his party. This was the plan all along, and it was going perfectly, as the team started to gear up for the game. Her idea to get closer to Christen didn't go as she thought it would, but somewhere deep down she knew it went better. 

With another quick glance and a returned smile, Tobin jumped down from the deck. "Give me a blaster. I'm ready to crush some hopes and dreams."

Everyone cheered as she geared up, and they started to go over the rules. Christen stood on the deck, a loving look on her face as she watched Tobin with her little brother.


	6. Party Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No internet post in this one. I hope everyone enjoys.

**Tobin: Sorry dude, can’t take you along on this one**  
**Jake: Whhhyyyyy**  
**Tobin: It’s all upper classman. I hate to say it, but you’re too young.**  
**Tobin: But we can hang tomorrow **  
**Tobin: Promise **  
**Jake: Fine, but we are getting burgers **  
**Tobin: You got a deal **

“Who’ya texting?” Kelley stepped out the car, running her hands down her shirt trying to smooth out any wrinkles. This was the first party they had been to in a while, and Tobin knew she was trying to find someone to take her mind off her ex-girlfriend.

Tobin shoved her phone in her pocket, “JP, he’s upset we didn’t bring him to the party.” 

“He’s way too young,” she shook her head. Kelley had become almost as attached to our younger counterpart as Tobin had. They had their own inside jokes and everything. “Besides, I’m sure Christen wouldn’t be too pleased to have her little brother at the same party she’s at.”

Her head popped up at the statement, “Do you think Chris is here?” She tried to figure out if Christen was coming tonight, but she was being coy as per usual. 

“For sure,” Kelley responded as she looked into the side view mirror to check her hair. “Lex said they would be here.”

Christen had no problem fitting in at the school, not that it was a surprise. She was amazing in ways that Tobin couldn’t explain, but mostly she was just cool. There was something about her completely laid back nature that made people want to be around her. She seemed like she belonged in a yoga class, with her long glances, and signature zen attitude.

But Tobin knew something the others didn’t, mostly because she spent way too much time trying to figure the mystery girl out. Tobin knew deep down, Christen was a little neurotic in the cutest of ways. It was the day she witnessed the curly haired goddess trying to organize her notes. She was mouthing words to herself, writing things down in neat handwriting making sure everything was just so. It would have been normal, had she not gone over it again, double, then triple checking all the papers were in order. It was then Tobin realized the calm exterior was a cover for the busy interior, and it was also then Tobin was truly hooked on the mystery of Christen Press. 

The house was flooded with people, not a chair was empty and the dance space was awash with bodies, moving to the music. As the two best friends walked in, they were instantly greeted by everyone. That was the power of Tobin Heath, and a little of Kelley when she was on and in party mode. They said the proper hello’s to the people they knew, passed by and high-fived or fist-bumped the people that knew them, and made their way into the kitchen to get a drink. 

Tobin stood back, leaning against the kitchen counter, trying her best to look casual and cool, while Kelley stepped up to the many kinds of alcohol and mixers set out for the party. How in the world Kelley managed to talk and mix a drink at the same time was beyond Tobin, if she was her best friend, so probably would have over poured and ended up way too drunk way too fast, but Kelley always seemed to manage. Tobin’s drink was quick and easy, just coke in a red Solo cup, made to look like she was knocking back a few, and Kelley had a vodka and Sprite. 

Tobin wasn’t a drinker, she may have had a few sips here and there, and then there was that one time she killed four beers in one sitting, but she was highly upset about failing a geometry quiz and had since learned not to coup with beer and Kelley cheering her on. Besides, tonight was about her best friend and finding a girl that would make her forget all about her evil ex.

Taking a big sip of her drink, and wincing a bit after, clearly from making it too strong, Kelley gave a wide grin and looked around the party, “Take a lap?”

“Yeah, sure,” Tobin responded coolly, though she was kind of desperate to get moving and see if she could spot Christen. It seemed like everything she did was in hopes of seeing Christen, not that she cared. 

Together they moved through the house, crowds of people made way when they walked by like they were Moses and the power of cool parted the red seas of people. It was impressive if you didn’t know them if you weren’t fully aware that almost every girl in the room was more than likely contemplating trying to hook up with Tobin tonight. Not that it mattered, her mind was laser focused on finding one single girl. It was like she had blinders on as she walked through peaking eyes and curious looks. 

Her heart pounded in her chest as she searched for curly brown hair and bright green eyes. Finally after what felt like forever her eyes landed on the target. There she was, with straightened hair, and a smile hidden behind a cup, talking with a group of girls Tobin knew too well. She looked happy like she blended perfectly in with the crowd while standing out in a way only she could. She was beautiful in a light blue crop top and high waisted jeans. But it was clear she would be beautiful in anything, especially when she laughed. And Tobin was desperate to make her laugh, just so she could watch the way the corners of her eyes crinkled. 

“Well?” Kelley elbowed her. “Go talk to her.”

“I will,” she took a quick sip of her drink. “I just have to think of a good way to get through the It Girls.”

Both Kelley and Tobin looked over at the group that held Christen in the middle. Alex Morgan, Allie Long, and Morgan Brain were the three girls in the school that Tobin would never try to crack. They were too close and they had been since the first grade. While they were all gorgeous, hitting on them would feel more like trying to convince your cousin to go to prom, so Tobin always kept it friendly with them. So in a way, it was good that Christen was friends with the three girls the ladies’ man had never tried to sleep with, but they were also the three worst people because of all the knowledge they had. 

Right as she was about to leap forward, Christen’s eyes fell on her, a smirk coming to her face as she scanned Tobin one good time. 

They locked eyes and Tobin knew she was a goner. She was willing to spend the rest of her night trying to persuade that girl into talking to her. The first thing she would have to do is get her away from the crowd. So with all the awesomeness she could muster, she gave a quick head nod and mouthed ‘Hey.’

Those green eyes locked on her, Christen said ‘hi’ back, her bottom lip going between her teeth. 

It was a dance, ‘come here’ she said without sound, then watched as Christen smiled and shook her head. ‘Please’ was next, she wasn’t above begging, but again the dark haired girl gave her a silent no, even though her grin was defiantly saying yes. So this was how it was going to be. Tobin put her hands together, and stuck her bottom lip out in her best puppy dog face, and said ‘please’ one more time. 

With her eyes and soundless words, Christen demanded ‘you come here.’ And Tobin was powerless to resist. She would brave the gauntlet in wartime if it meant a few minutes with that girl. So she tapped Kelley and the arm and they walked over to the group of girls. 

“Help me out,” Tobin whispered when they were a few steps away. 

Kelley took a swig from her cup, “Yeah, you got it bud.” They made it to the group and obnoxiously Kelley pushed her way to the middle. “Hey Ladies!” she said loud enough for the whole party to hear. “What are you guys doing over here without me? I know you’re not having fun.”

“Nothing’s fun without you,” Alex rolled her eyes, giving the outgoing girl a light shove to the chest. “When did you get here?”

“Early enough to get you a drink,” she responded with an eyebrow wiggle. 

Morgan was the next one to push Kelley, “When're you going to stop hitting on her?”

“Never,” Kelley cheesed, then turned to the shorter girl, “Unless you’re going to say yes to me.”

Allie was the third and final girl to give Kelley a shove, “Oh my god, you’re the worst.” They all laughed, and as easy as that Tobin was ignored and able to focus on the girl she wanted. 

“Hey,” Tobin said, leaning over to whisper in her ear. 

Christen turned her head and looked up, “Hey, you.”

Her voice made the athlete shiver, “How are you?”

“Good,” her eyes sparkled as she spoke. “How are you?”

“Great,” she looked at the distracted girls and Kelley trying her best to entertain. Soon they would notice Tobin wasn’t talking to anyone but her new interest and comments would be made, so she needed to act fast. “Do you want to dance?”

Looking as if she was weighing her options, Christen tortured her for a few seconds before answering, “Yeah okay.”

They set their drinks down, and in an act of pure bravery Tobin reached down and took her hand, leading them to the dance floor. The music was easy to move to and the second they were in the middle of the crowd, Christen was close to her, dancing as if she had been waiting years to move against each other. 

Dancing with Christen was like walking on hot coals, knowing if you stumbled you’d get burnt. Her hips moved to the beat like they were creating in, and her hands were warm on the back of Tobin’s neck. She would look up every few seconds like she was checking on Tobin, which was understandable seeing as the once confident girl was reduced to a mess with the way they were swaying together. 

Tobin tried to keep her mind focused on the movement, but it was occupied with keeping her hands placed firmly on Christen’s waist. Her body told her to drop them down, go to her hips, then maybe move back and grab a handful of her…

“Are you nervous?” Christen spoke directly in her ear, the warmth of her breath making Tobin wish is was directed to other places on her body. 

This brought her back to reality and to the fact that she was blowing her one chance to show this girl, who was obviously way too cool for her, that she knew what she was doing. Looking down, eyes hood, hands dropping just slightly and adding pressure to the body under her, Tobin gave her cocky half smile, “Nah, babe. I got you.”

With her causal words and the change in song, Tobin started to dance the way she knew how. She was aware of a lot of things in this world, one of them being that some women associated dancing with making love, which might have frightened lesser people, but Tobin knew how to make love, and she knew how to prove it. She was also fully aware of the eyes on them, all the other wanting women in the room that wished they were her partner. She knew Christen a little cocky under her coy attitude, so she wasn’t afraid to be a little brazen, and show off. After all, she had the most amazing girl in the room, and she was hanging off like silk sheets, so why not give the people what they came for. 

Without thought Tobin slipped her hand on the small of Christen’s back, pulling her in so they were touching. Whether or not she meant to, Christen’s hands tightened around her neck forcing Tobin to look down at the same time she was looking up, and their mouths were less than an inch away. This was her chance, she needed to take it, so Tobin took a breath…

“Come with me,” Christen said in an airy voice, and without waiting she pulled Tobin off the dance floor. 

In her mind, Tobin was already trying to think of a secluded place they could go but before she could even mention the upstairs bedrooms they were going through a sliding glass door and heading outside to the backyard. Looking around, the place was practically empty besides a few people making out near a small garden, and two people look dangerously close to something more in a hammock almost hidden by the bushes. So it wasn’t private, but maybe they could work something out. 

Christen, seemed to have other plans, as she headed down stone steps towards a wood swing tucked away towards the very back of the yard. She walked slowly enough for Tobin’s brain to catch up, even if she was looking at the way her hips swayed as she moved. 

“I’ve heard things about you,” the calm girl said as they walked by the backlit swimming pool.

Tobin did a slight jog to catch up to her, “Good or bad?”

“The girls in this school,” her hands flowed out in front of her as she spoke. “They are like bees, swarming around. They protect you like their queen.”  
“I’m no one’s queen,” she rolled her eyes. “I’m more like a worker bee.”

Christen let out a quick laugh, “You’ve worked.”

Now her heart was beating faster, “Is that good or bad?”

They made it to the swing and she spun on her heels, “Depends on who you talk to.” She flopped down onto the swing, putting her feet up and waiting for Tobin to take a seat. “Some girls tell me to go for it. Some warn me against you.”

A little confused about where the conversation was going, Tobin leaned back, her hands in her lap. “What do you think?”

“That also depends,” Christen’s eyes were a little low, she had clearly had a little to drink. Her voice was soft like she was pushing more air than normal, and it was doing wonders to make Tobin both nervous and turned on at the same time. “What do you want?”

Her eyebrows knitted together as her hands flipped inside each other, “You mean like right now, or in the grand scheme of things?”

Thinking on the question, she pressed her lips together. “Let’s go with the grand scheme.”

Tobin smirked, now seeing where this was going. She wasn’t going to get lucky out here on the swing, maybe she wasn’t even going to get a date, this was about getting to know each other. This conversation was about Christen feeling comfortable with her. 

“I want to help people,” she responded sweetly. “I think that’s my whole purpose.”

Christen stared at her like she was reading a book and just getting to the good parts. “That’s a good purpose.”

“I hope so,” her nerves were now subsiding as she relaxed into the back of the swing. “So what do you want?”

“Grand scheme,” her legs went out in front of her, landing in the lap in front of her. “I haven’t figured that out yet.”

Tobin picked her hands up and rested them on the toned legs in her lap. “What about right now.” She pressed her thumb into her calf, thinking maybe she was wrong the first time and she did have a chance tonight. 

A light smile appeared on her face, her eyes trained on Tobin, “I haven’t figured that out either.” Watching as those big brown eyes got wide, Christen could sense the change in demeanor. “Can I have your hat?”

Still shocked, her eyes shifted back and forth, “The one I’m wearing right now?”

“Yeah,” she answered as if it was the simplest answer in the world. “Can I wear it?”

This was the first time a girl had ever asked. Last year a girl who thought they had something more than friends with benefits going on stole her hat when they were chilling with their friends. It was infuriating. The hat completed the look, the dark blue was the perfect blend with her flannel and made her look smooth. She wasn’t one to let any girl wear any of her stuff, even when other girls were walking around sporting their boyfriend’s jackets. Even when Kelley’s girlfriend insisted on wearing her best friend's favorite hoodie, Tobin always laughed, but for some reason, she popped the cap off her head and handed it over. 

Christen put it over her hair and shook her head a few times, the hat bobbing around, “You have a big head.”

“Thank you,” she cracked up, her hand moving to smooth her hair out. “I could take it back, you know?”

“Nope,” she jumped to her feet, looking down. “You can come and make me a drink if you want.” Thrown completely off Tobin just smiled and stood up. As they walked towards the house, Christen jumped up on the third step and looked down to Tobin, “You can have your hat back later. If you’re good.” She winked, then spun around and headed inside. 

They eased back into the party, passing by the masses, Tobin could see people pointing and talking. Christen was wearing her hat, it was obvious because Tobin was the only one who owned a snapback like that, and she was now hatless. As much as it should have bothered her, the way other girls were whispering to each other, it didn’t, instead, she just moved on, thinking about how good Christen looked in her hat. 

Tobin ended up at the kitchen counter, having been told to mix a rum and coke, she was carefully making the drink while feeling hot under Christen’s gaze. It took everything she had not to turn around, stare back at the woman watching her every move. Normally Tobin wasn’t the type to let a girl have this much power over her, but it was almost like she didn’t have a choice. Christen just had something that drew her in, and she was willing to give up all the power in the world. 

“Dude,” Kelley knocked into her friend as she was putting the top back on a giant bottle of rum. “Is she wearing your snapback?” she looked over to Christen who was now surrounded by her friends. 

Trying to act casual, Tobin cracked open a coke can and poured it into the cup, “Yeah, she asked for it.” She poured the remaining contents of the can into her own drink, then tossed it over to a pile next to the trash can. 

Excitedly, Kelley gave her another shove, “You never let girls wear your stuff.” She watched as Tobin tried to keep herself balanced and not spill the drinks in her hands. “What’s going on? She got you?”

“She doesn’t have me,” she scoffed, taking a quick sip. “I just like her.”

“You _like_ her,” a grin stretched across her freckled face. “Man, she’s got you for sure.”

“Shut up,” Tobin gave her a quick kick, before heading towards the group of girls. 

Maybe she did have her. Did it matter? Tobin had never been more intrigued by a person in her life. She had never wanted to know more about another girl. This was the first time she had ever been so intrigued by a person she was close to using the word, infatuation. Christen may have had her, but it felt pretty good. 

XX

For the rest of the party, Tobin spent half her time standing as close to Christen as her friends would allow, and the other half on the dance floor trying to keep her hands to herself. Other things were going on that night, like Kelley having a quick hook up with a girl from another school, and Alex got into a fight with her boyfriend, but Tobin only knew this because she and Christen sat out on the front steps to talk as the party started to die down. 

It was close to 1AM and people were starting to make their way to their cars, headed home, or to a diner to get some food before passing out. Normally Tobin would have some random girl on her arm and be headed to park her car somewhere they could have privacy, but tonight, she was settled on a wood step, listening to Christen talk about California. 

As what seemed like the one-hundredth person passed by them, Christen finally stood up watching as Tobin rose to her feet. “Take me home?”

“Yeah, of course,” she said quickly as if she could ever say no. Luckily Kelley was already coming out of the house, Tobin grabbed her arm. “Can you get a ride?”

With a quick glance over to the clearly drunk girl waiting on Tobin, the now calmed girl nodded. “Yeah, dude. I’ll get Lex to take me.” She accepted Tobin’s thank you fist bump, “Have fun.”

Tobin chuckled to herself as she left her best friend, and directed Christen to the car. After navigating through drunk people walking, and some cars in the way, they were off towards the other side of town. The drive was only fifteen minutes or so, but it was enough time for Tobin to try and get to know her a little more if only she could find some words. 

Christen was turned in her seat, eyes focused on Tobin as she drove. A smile crept to her face as she watched the other girl take short glances trying to figure out what was going on. “You’re really beautiful.” She finally said. 

“Thank you,” Tobin blushed, trying to both look at her and at the road at the same time. 

“Everyone always talks about how hot you are,” she sat up a little in her seat, adjust the seatbelt as she tried to get comfortable. “No one really talks about you being really beautiful.”

“I, uh…” her hands tightened on the steering wheel. “I don’t know what to say.”

One perfectly shaped eyebrow went up as the corner of her mouth came into a half smile, “You don’t have to say anything.” Her eyes went to the windshield as her smile got bigger. “Not everything needs a response.”

Looking back to her, risking the road for the few seconds it took to make sure Christen was smiling as she spoke, Tobin shook her had just a little, then turned back to focus forward. She could feel herself getting a little hotter as they drove. No one had ever called her beautiful, and the idea of this girl is the first one made her wish for other firsts. Hell, she would do everything all over again if she could do it with Christen. 

They were halfway to their destination, riding in silence for a few minutes when Christen spoke up. “I’m going to ask you a question.”

It seemed like everything she did was meant to keep Tobin on her toes. “Okay.” 

“There are, what, two hundred girls at that school.” She paused for a second, her eyes hadn’t left the windscreen. “Half of them want you.” Now she looked over, lips slightly apart, brow furrowed like she was worried to speak. “Why are you chasing me?”

“I don’t think I’m chasing you,” she said quickly. There had to be more because in her mind there was more. “But if I was,” she took a breath, holding tight to the steering wheel. “It would be because you’re worth the chase.”

A short shallow breath came like she was settling on the idea. Those green eyes got wide, as she shifted in her seat. “How do you know you’re not wasting your time?”

“Chris,” the million-dollar smile came as she thought about the answer. “Not a single second spent with you is wasted.”

There was an audible catch in Christen’s breath. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but then leaned back in her chair like she decided against it. Maybe this was one of those things that didn’t need a response. Tobin, a little proud of herself for finally saying something that could make her speechless, drove in silence letting the music from the radio fill the space around them.

Xx

“Are you going to walk me to my door?” Christen asked.

Removing the keys, she smirked, “Of course, it’s door to door service.”

They both laughed as they got out of the car and headed towards the front porch. Tobin could feel her heart dancing in her chest, trying it best to jump out and fall to the floor in front of this magnificent girl. She wouldn’t be ashamed if the organ popped out and declared her feelings for her, in fact, she would probably just smile shyly and agree with everything it said. The truth was, Christen was giving her feelings she had never had before, and her heart was ready for it, even if her brain was still a little confused. Her brain could be slow sometimes. 

The porch light was on, dimly lighting up the space as they stood at the front door. Christen fooled with the keys in her hand, her hand lowered. Tobin stepped forward, leaving only an inch between them. If her girl was nervous about all of this then she needed to show confidence. She was ready to make the moves, to take charge and take all the steps. She was ready to carry the weight of it all moving forward, whatever it took. 

Looking up with the brightest green eyes, slightly glossed over, Christen chuckled a bit. Her eyebrows knitted together, then relaxed as she took a breath. “I like you.” She stared right in Tobin’s eyes, looking for micro-expression saying she was afraid but was only met with a look of hope. 

“I like you too,” that was the first time she had ever said those words. That was the first time she ever wanted to say them. “I really like you.” One more time for good measure.

Her bottom lip going in her mouth, turning a little white as she bit down, Christen stuck her hand out and placed in on Tobin’s chest, right over her fast beating heart. Her head shook slightly as she spoke, “I’m not going to kiss you.”

Feeling like she had just been kicked in the gut, Tobin tried to keep some composure, “Yeah? Okay? Um…”

“It’s just,” she cut her off, her hand pushing harder onto the strong chest. “I’m kind of drunk.” A light laugh escaped, then she looked up with a serious face. “I want to remember our first kiss.”

Relief and hope washed over her, “So, you are going to kiss me, eventually?”

“I think we both knew that the moment we saw each other.” 

Tobin nodded, deciding to take a step back, “Then I can wait.” She grabbed the hand as it fell from her chest. “I’m patient.”

Christen squeezed tightly, “I guess it’s goodnight then.”

“I guess so,” she lifted their hands, placing a gentle kiss on the back of the warm hand in hers, then let it float down as Christen smiled. “Goodnight, Christen.”

Blush coming to her cheeks, she gave one quick nod, “Goodnight, Tobin.” She watched as the other girl made her way to her car. “Oh, hey, do you want your hat back?”

Tobin looked back up, “Nah, you keep it for now.” She smirked, thinking about how proud she had been all night when other people saw Christen wearing her hat. “I’ll get it back from you later… If I’m good.” She winked, then turned to her car, climbing and driving off before the urge to run up and kiss that amazing girl became too much to hold back. They had time and she was going to take it.


	7. Asking Her Out

There is reason to believe this might have been the single greatest day of Tobin’s young life. It’s kind of funny to think it all started with her failing her math quiz, that wasn’t so great, actually, it was pretty frightening, but it would be alright, plus if her whole life burned down at least she would have the memories of today to think back on as it caught fire. 

As she came into her room, after avoiding her mother as best she could, Tobin slung her backpack on her bed and flopped down in her computer chair. The smile on her face wouldn’t seem to go away, not that she cared. She just looked up at the ceiling admiring the smoothness, thinking to herself that she could probably be a drywall installer if this whole pro soccer player thing didn’t work out. She was good with her hands and had a great eye for detail, plus she enjoyed tasks that didn’t require much talking, and she could be in solitude. 

That was one of the things no one really knew about her, she liked to be alone sometimes, it gave her a chance to think. Most kids her age had a craving to be around someone, have someone witness everything they were doing, after all they could have been doing something amazing, and what’s an amazing stunt if no one is there to see it? If the perfect corner kick is done in the forest, will no one clap? But that didn’t matter to Tobin a lot of the time, she loved being around people, but more she also enjoyed the peace that came with sitting alone in her room and simply thinking. 

Of course, now all her thoughts turned to the girl, whom she was now coming to the conclusion that she was completely infatuated with. If Tobin was a singer she would write a song. If she was a painter she would paint a picture. If she was a dancer she would organize a giant flash mob and show Christen how much she meant to her, but Tobin was none of these things. She was a soccer player, so she could tell Christen to come to her games, and she would score a goal for her, but that wasn’t a guarantee. She was great at _other things_ but the green eyed girl was nowhere near close to letting Tobin show her how much she means to her in that way. But there was one more thing Tobin was good at, she was good at helping, and that was definitely something she could do to prove her feelings. 

Because that’s what they were, she could admit that to herself in the fullest finally. She had feelings, the kind you tell your friends about, though the only person she told was Kelley, who mocked her of course, but then slapped her on the back and told her she was proud of her. She also let Jake know because it was the right thing to do. Tobin broke the news to him gently. She really liked Christen, like really liked her and wanted to pursue it in a way that was more than she usually did. She promised to never hurt her and to be a gentleman the entire time. Jake lovingly threaten to beat her up if she made his big sister cry, and Tobin agreed to let him because they both knew she would derisive a beating if she ever hurt Christen. It was a good time, they had milkshakes. But now with everyone in on it, she had to actually do it, and that was probably the scariest thing she’s ever thought about. 

She had never done this before. There were steps involved. She liked steps. She just needed to figure out what they were and the order.

<<<< How To Get Girls: Asking Her Out >>>> 

_Hey Hey Hey! What is going on my loyal followers? I feel like I should give you guys a name or something. Let me know what you think the name should be, comment below and we can all pick the best one. Anyway, I see I have so many more subscribers. What is going on? Are you guys spreading the word? Well good, I really hope you are, but I hope you’re only giving it out to the good people of this world. If you’ve watched my videos before, you know that I have one simple rule, and that is you have to be a decent human being. If you are watching these videos and are planning on using my skills and knowledge for evil, then that means you are trash and deserve to be in a can. These videos are for those struggling to get a girl to talk to them and want to ask a girl out on a date and be a kind, genuine, decent human to that girl. So if that’s you, keep watching and while you’re at it, hit like and subscribe. _

_So what’s today’s topic? We have gone over almost everything you need to get you over and talking to the girl you like. We’ve gone over body language, how to approach a girl, and how to talk and listen to her, so by now you know how to basically get yourself in the door and get her interested in you. So what is the next step? It’s asking her out on a date! Of course!_

_Now, calm down, I know exactly what you’re thinking. There’s no way you can just go up to a girl and ask her on a date! But, I’m here to tell you that you can. A few weeks ago you couldn’t even talk to her, now you can have a decent conversation, so you can ask her out. Trust me, it’s really simple when you break it down into parts, which is exactly what I’m here for. So listen up. _

_There are three parts to asking a girl out: Planning, Timing, and Confirming. _

_First, is Planning. So what does that mean? Have a plan! I cannot stress this enough, you have to go in there with a plan. If you have a plan there’s a better chance you won’t fall over and die as you’re trying to get the words out. If you go in there half-cocked but fully loaded, you’re going to misfire and mess everything up, so plan it out. It can be as simple as, I’m going to ask her tomorrow after school, and this is what I’m going to say. _

_You must know what you are going to say that way you don’t word vomit all over her. My advice is to keep it as simple as possible. The best thing about technology is you can text a lot of the information later on, so the actual face to face stuff can be pretty simple. Now, this doesn’t mean vague, it means simple. Going up to a girl and saying, “hey you wanna go out,” and she says yes, and you just “say cool, text you later,” then walk away that’s vague, and kind of weird. Simple is asking if she’d like to go out sometime, she says yes, and then you say something like, “I don’t have a plan just yet, but can I text you later?” That’s simple. Be direct, but not forceful, and maybe try to fold it into a conversation. _

_And that’s where timing comes into play. When to ask a girl out goes a long way to her actually saying yes. Now this can be tricky, because like I’ve said before, all girls are different, so you have to figure out which technique is right for the girl you like, but there are usually two schools of thought when it comes to asking someone out. The first one: Asking her in front of people. This one is hard, mostly because who in the world has the confidence to just go up to a girl in the crowd and ask her on a date? Well, I do, and soon you will too. Some girls love attention, it makes them feel good to have eyes on them, and that’s cool. It’s like all those marriage proposals that get recorded, some people enjoy spectacles, hell I enjoy a good attention grabbing moment from time to time. If your girl is the type to shout things in a crowd, or likes to do extreme crazy stuff and record herself and post it, then she might be the type you ask out in front of others. Do this with caution though, you have to be almost guaranteed she will say yes, because getting a no in public SUCKS!_

_So what’s the other school of thought? Asking in private. I’m assuming if you are shy, that maybe your girl is shy too, so she might want to be asked out without everyone staring at her, wondering what she might say. In fact, asking her with anyone around might freak her out and make her say no, so you need to get this one right. Don’t corner her, that’s weird, just find her when she doesn’t have a bunch of people around her, but make sure there are people around, like passer by’s, that way she doesn’t feel threatened and ask her then. I usually try to get the shy ones when they are walking to their car after school, or when they are at their lockers or something like that. This way we can talk in private but she doesn’t feel like I am trapping her and making her say yes. Safety guys, that’s a key element in life in general. _

_I have a caution before we get to the last step, and it’s this. I know we’re in the day and age when everything is done over text, but I highly suggest you ask a girl out in person and not over text. There’s something to be said about the face to face, it’s just better. I’m not saying you can’t text, I just prefer it being up close and personal. If you’re super shy and worried and want to text, you can try a pre ask out text. That’s when you ask her if she’d say yes if you ever asked her on a date. If you get a yes, then you can tell her that’ll you’ll ask her face to face the next time you see her. This way you’re going to get a yes, but you still are talking to her. Trust me, most women like eye contact and they want to see you smile. Plus, you’re going to want to see them smile when they say yes, it’s one of the best parts._

_So the next stage is Confirming. I would argue this is the most important step because it can make or break the date. After you ask her out, you need to confirm that it’s an actual date and not just two people hanging out. I’ve seen this happen before, a friend asked a girl to ‘hang out’ and she said yes. After the date, my friend goes in for the kiss and gets the hand on the chest. Apparently, the girl thought they were just hanging out as friends. So if you are going to use vague language like “hang out” or “go out” or “go to the movies” or anything that doesn’t have the word, date, in it, you need to confirm that it’s an actual date._

_It doesn’t have to be weird or awkward. Make it funny, or cute, just say something like “this is a date, right?” or “you know this is a date… with me?” make her laugh, but make sure you know for sure it’s a date. On that same note, if she says that she doesn’t want it to be a date, don’t back out; agree to hang out as friends. There’s nothing wrong with just being friends with a girl. There are three ways it could play out: one you have a cool friend, two she might end up wanting to go out on a date with you later, or three she could turn into your new wingman. Just because a girl isn’t interested in you, doesn’t mean she doesn’t have friends who might be interested in you. And this is not to say your girl friends are a girl factory, but they can be a good resource._

_So that’s about it when it comes to asking a girl out. Notice I didn’t tell you what to say, because I think that should be up to you. Everything you say to a girl should be from the heart. I can always suggest things, but my style might not be yours and if you’re using my words, it might seem off. Just go in confident, and imagine she is going to say yes. Confidence goes a long way. If all else fails, just ask if she would like to go on a date with you. As I said, you can always text her the details. The initial ask out doesn’t need to be complicated. And again, if she rejects you, take it in stride, be respectful and keep your head high._

_Well, that’s all I have for now. If you have any questions ask me down in the comments and I will do my best to answer all of them, it might take me a few days since my comments are blowing up, but I promise I will get to them. Until then, smash that like button and subscribe. Send the links to my page to any of your friends looking for some advice but make sure they are decent humans. Okay guys, I’ll see you in the next video. Later! _

<<<< >>>> 

Tobin leaned back in her chair clicking save on the video. This was the fifth video in the series and she was already up to almost two thousand followers. She was making noise in the YouTube community, maybe not a lot, but she was there, maybe even up and coming. She thought about maybe making her profile public, she would get more subscribers if she did, but then again, that would defeat the purpose of the videos. Sure she was making them in the hopes of getting some sponsors and making some money, but she was also in it to help good people talk to girls. Making her profile public could result in someone using her advice to hurt someone, and it didn’t matter how much money she could get, that was the one thing she never wanted to happen.

Starting to edit the video, Tobin started to go over the events of the best day of her life. So she had failed her quiz, she could make it up, and she would, now that she had help.

XX

The teacher decided to hand back the quizzes at the end of class. This was a technique most teachers did to keep you from getting distracted by a bad grade. The second you saw an F on an important test, your mind would go out the window. No one wants to pay attention to a class they’re failing. They were probably failing from their lack of paying attention in the first place. So Tobin sat in the back of the class, looking forward and trying her best to copy down notes as her stomach turned in knots. She knew she didn’t do well, but she needed a C, minimum of 72% on this quiz to not have to worry too much about the next one. And she had to do well on the next one or pay the consequences.

At the end of the class, after the bell dinged, the distinct sound ringing through the air letting the students know they have seven minutes before their next class. Tobin got up from her seat, shoving her notes into her backpack and slinging it over her shoulder. She had to make it through a few girls trying to talk to her, there was always a girl trying to talk to her, though it seemed like there were a little less now, after the party and the Christen wearing her hat event. Some girls seemed to catch the hint that Tobin was interested in the new girl, and it was in a way that meant she didn’t have eyes for anyone else, but of course, some girls didn’t care and would always try to throw their hat in the ring. She was polite as per usual and made her way to the teacher’s desk to pick up her paper.

“Tobin, can you stay back for a few minutes?” The teacher asked in her sweet voice.

Her stomach flipped inside her. Tobin stood away from the line of other students waiting on their results. It took another minute for the rest of the class to walk out. Tobin stood at the desk watching as her math teacher went to close the door over and turn back to her desk.

“I failed,” Tobin hung her head, not wanting to wait to see the paper. “How bad?”

Her math teacher was nice, Mrs. Krieger, with long black hair and a kind smile. She spent many hours with Tobin trying to find a way to get her grade up. Even though Tobin was frustrating, mostly because she was always down on herself, the kind and gentle older woman never gave up on her.

“You did,” she reached for the last paper on her desk, holding it loosely. “What happened, Tobin?”

“I don’t know,” she took the paper and unfolded it to read a big fat 51% written in red ink. “I thought I did okay, not great, but at least passing.”

Mrs. Krieger gave a light sigh, “Well, you didn’t miss every question, and a lot of them you had the beginning correct but as you worked you lost it.” She walked over and pointed at a question. “See, you were doing great here, then you forgot the negative sign and then…”

“It went totally downhill,” she slapped paper against her face, hiding from the world if only for a few seconds. “I can’t believe this. I’ve been trying so hard.”

“I can tell,” Mrs. Krieger said softly, pulling the paper from Tobin’s face. “I can see the work you’re putting in. Your homework is looking a million times better from the start of the year. It’s just your quizzes.”

“I’m fine when I have an example to look at,” she sighed, her head falling back. “I just can’t remember everything. God, I’m stupid.”

“You’re not stupid, Tobin. Don’t ever think that.” She placed her hand on her shoulder trying to calm the girl down. “Not everyone is good at math, but that doesn’t make them stupid. You are incredibly smart in other areas. Trigonometry is hard, and I wish there was a way to make it easier. Don’t let this get you down, or make you feel like you’re not good enough because you are.”

Tobin sighed, “Yeah, I guess.”

“Not you guess,” she chuckled to herself. “You are smart, and we are going to find a way to help you with math. It just might take some time.”

“Until then,” Tobin looked down at her failed quiz.

“Until then,” she smiled sweetly. “We are going to figure out how to get you through this next quiz. I know you have practice on Thursdays, but that’s the only day I have free after school…”

“I can get out of practice easy,” Tobin said quickly. “Coach knows how close I am to being ineligible, he’ll let me out to study.”

She gave a warm smile, “Sounds good. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow Mrs. K,” Tobin said a half-smile appearing on her face. She was upset about the test, but she didn’t want the nicest teacher in school to think she didn’t appreciate the help. With a quick wave, she was out the door and headed for her next class.

It was around lunchtime when Tobin went to the gym to let her coach know she wouldn’t be at practice on Thursday and to make sure he was kept in the loop about everything, the last thing she wanted to do was to blindside him with not having his best midfielder. Not that she was trying to brag, but she was the best, she had the scholarship to prove it, not that it would matter if she kept failing math quizzes.

Instead of going back to the lunchroom where she would have to fake a smile for the sake of everyone else, she decided to spend the last ten minutes in the bathroom. She was scrolling through her feed, hoping no one would come in, when the door creaked open. Maybe if she didn’t look up, whoever it was would just leave her alone.

“Tobin?”

No such luck. Ready to fake a smile, she looked up and saw the one person in the entire world she would be happy to see. “Hey, Chris.”

“What are you doing here?” she chuckled.

Tobin sighed, “Just needed a few minutes to myself.”

Catching the look in the usually happy girl’s eye, Christen moved closer, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Tobin gave a quick smile. “I’m all good.” She wasn’t, and she could tell the intuitive girl was picking up on it, but she wasn’t ready to say it just yet so she just doubled down on her answer. “Seriously, I’m okay.”

Reaching out, Christen touched just the tips of Tobin’s fingers, “What’s going on?” she watched as Tobin looked down at their fingers as she moved her fingertips against hers. She wanted to smile at the curiosity in her eyes, but she knew it would only get Tobin talking about other things, and not what was really bothering her, so she took a step closer. “Talk to me, please.”

Looking up with wide eyes, Tobin decided that she could finally let go of the façade she had with the rest of the world, and let Christen in, maybe just a little. “I failed my Trig quiz.” She spoke softly, her head then going down, her eyes averted, she didn’t want to see those green eyes filled with worry, or maybe something worse, pity. “If I fail another one, I’ll fall below eligibility.”

“And they won’t let you play soccer,” she said softly, gently, as if Tobin was the most fragile thing in the world and speaking in a normal tone would just break her.

“Yeah,” she looked up, feeling a bit of pressure behind her eyes. “If I can’t play they can take away my scholarship. Without it, I won’t be able to go to college, then my future is done and…”

“Hey,” she said as sweetly as she could. As Tobin snapped out of her ranting state, Christen pushed her hand forward to lace their fingers fully. “Take a breath.” She watched as the worried brown eyes got smaller, and Tobin’s chest inflated one good time, then went down. “I can help you with trig if you want.”

She looked up in shock, “You can? You’re good at trig?”

“I’m in AP Calculus, so yeah, I’m pretty good,” she smiled brightly.

“And you’d help me?” she squeezed tight to the hand in hers.

Christen chuckled, “Of course, what are you doing after school?”

“Nothing,” her answer was so quick it made Christen laugh again, it was such a wonderful laugh.

“How about you drive me and JP home, and you can come up and we can go over your notes.”

“I can do that,” Tobin rushed out, she was so anxious to say yes to everything this girl said. “We can meet at my car after school.”

Christen nodded, giving a quick smile, “Sounds like a plan.”

XX

School felt like it was dragging for the rest of the day. Tobin was practically bouncing out of all her seat as she watched the clock tick down to the end bell. She brushed Kelley off, letting her know she was going to be busy the rest of the day as she ran out of the building and headed to her car, anxiously waiting for Christen to show up.

“Hey dude,” a low voice called out. “You’re giving us a ride home?”

“Looks like it,” Tobin smiled, holding out her hand to receive their secret handshake. “Guess we’re just waiting on your sister.”

“She’s always late,” Jake rolled his eyes. “I saw her talking to her friends, so she’ll probably be extra late.”

"That’s okay, gives us time to talk about the list." Tobin wiggled her eyebrows watching the boy crack a smile. “I've narrowed it down."

"Isn't that my job?" He questioned.

Normally he would have been right, after all, he was the one who made the list, not that it was much of a list. Three names of freshman girls that he liked and wanted to try to ask to homecoming, and in any other circumstance Tobin would have waited for him to say the girl he really wanted, but the dance was a month away and they had some work to do.

"Come JP, I know who you like," she grinned landing a soft punch to his shoulder. "You wouldn't have put her first, that's too obvious, but you also wouldn't have put her last because she's not last." She crossed her arms as if she had just won a prize, "So she's in the middle. You like Mallory."

Jake stood, his big eyes unblinking, "How are you this good?"

"Been at it for a while bud," Tobin laughed, leaning against the front of her car. "So, have you talked to her yet?"

"A little," he responded shyly. "We have the same Civics class, and we sit next to each other, but her best friend is in the class to so she pays more attention to her." He shrugged his giant backpack floating on his thin shoulders. "Do you think I have a chance?"

With a sly smile the older girl responded, "With me, you have an excellent chance." She slapped her hand on his shoulder. "We just have to get you in there." She looked up to see Christen heading down the parking lot. "Mission starts tomorrow."

Jake quickly agreed and then dropped the subject once he saw his big sister coming. This was something between him and Tobin, and Kelley somewhat, whenever she took an interest. Christen was sweet and if she knew Jake was trying to get a date she would just want to get involved. After all, this was a secret mission and Christen had no idea how to be secret.

"Finally!" Jake shouted and headed towards the backseat of the car.

"My bad," Christen rolled her eyes as she walked up to Tobin. "Sorry, it took me so long."

With a quick shrug and a smile she brushed it off, "I'm not as worried as JP."

"Good," she reached forward and grabbed her hand. "You ready?"

Tobin squeezed her hand, "Yup, all ready."

Christen turned to wave to the group of girls watching the whole exchange and that's when Tobin realized if the It Girls saw them holding hands, the entire school would know by the end of the night. That's also when she realized she didn't care who knew, in fact, she was pretty ready to tell everyone herself.

As they got into the car and started to drive Tobin was immediately bombarded with questions about the new Call of Duty game she was playing with Jake. It was his way of making his big sister suffer for making them wait. Christen didn't seem frustrated, she had probably been planning on it, knowing her brother well. Instead, she just reached over the center console and laced her fingers in Tobin's and sat silently as the two gamers talked.

It felt so natural like they had been doing it for years and this was routine as usual. Tobin almost didn't notice it, but then again the smooth hand in hers was hard to miss. There was a piece of her that wanted to freak out, figure out what it all meant, but then there's was a part of her that liked the mysterious easiness of it all. And a part of her still that knew exactly what it meant and wasn't worried in the least. She was listening to one or more of those parts and just let the gesture pass comfortably as they drove.

After parking, Jake jumped out of the car and practically ran towards the front door. Tobin and Christen headed into the house, and towards the kitchen where their dad was standing at the counter looking at his computer.

"Dad, you remember Tobin," Christen spoke first, moving to the refrigerator to grab bottles of water.

"Oh yeah, you're Jake's friend," he gave a warm smile, the one he shared with both his kids. "It's good to see you."

Tobin took a tentative step towards the man, "It’s good to see you too."

"I wish I could chat, but I have to figure out how to finish this video for a project at work," he lowered his eyebrows as he looked at the laptop in the counter. "How in the world do you put images and links in a video?"

"Are you using Final Cut Pro X?" Tobin asked shocking everyone around her. She watched the older man nodded. "I can show you real quick. It's super easy." 

He pushed his computer over to her. Tobin quickly went to typing while explaining as she went. She could feel all eyes on her, the whole family seeming to be impressed by her knowledge. This was good for three purposes, one she was helping Mr. Press which was just good in general, two she was impressing him which was good because she had the biggest crush in human history on his only daughter, and third this was a good way to show Christen that even though she was failing trigonometry she wants a complete idiot. Chicks dig smart chicks, remember that.

"So that's pretty much it," she turned the laptop back to him. "Just repeat the steps for the rest of your video and if you need any help let me know."

He looked down at the screen, "That easy huh?" He smiled up at her, "Thanks Tobin, I really appreciate the help. I'll definitely be using you again."

"I'll be here," she grinned.

"Yeah she'll be in my room playing CoD," Jake tried his best to clap her back, even though she was taller than him.

"No," Christen pointed her finger. "You're going upstairs to do your homework." Then she turned to Tobin who stood up straight. "And you're going to my room so I can teach you trig."

"Fine," Jake pouted. "But later?" He looked over to his friend.

Tobin nodded, "Yeah I'll log in when I get home."

Before anything else could be said Tobin was being dragged up the stairs, she did her best to say some kind of ‘see you later’ to the two Press men, before she was pulled into the third door on the right.

Christen’s room was pretty amazing. The walls were painted a soft blue and all her stuff had light grey accents. Everything was neat, all the books in the light wood bookshelf were stacked with their broken spines showing signs of being read several times. There wasn't a single thing out of place. The pictures all hanging or sitting on other objects, the placement strategic in a way that probably made perfect sense to Christen’s organized brain.

"I like your room," Tobin looked over to the bed, looking oh so inviting with the grey comforter and fluffy pillows. "It's very you."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Christen laughed moving past her.

"It's definitely a compliment because I like you." She moved around the space looking at all the things that made Christen who she was. She could see her girl doing one thing or another, probably busying herself as Tobin studied her life. This could only go on for so long, they had to do something. Suddenly she was nervous again, the comfortable confidence she had in the car starting to leave her, so she was the one to speak up. "So what do you want to do?"

Christen had already set her things down, the jean jacket she was wearing was off and hanging on the back of the desk chair. She looked amazing in her simple pink crop top. Tobin bit her lip when she turned to see her almost immediately regretting saying a single word because maybe she was going to mess up her chance to run her hand against the incredibly smooth skin of Christen's exposed stomach.

"I think we should do what we both have been thinking about since the party," the dark-haired girl said as she looked up at Tobin with dark eyes. She watched as Tobin’s throat rose and fell, she was nervous and it was cute. She could see the questioning look and knew in about five seconds the apparent ladies’ man was about to ask what, so Christen took charge. "Kiss me."

That was all she needed to hear, no confirmation needed. Tobin surged forward her hand going to cup Christen’s cheek. She took one second to catch her breath before their lips were connected in the most heated kiss she had ever experienced. Her right hand traveled to the small of her girls back, pulling them closer together deepening the kiss she could feel Christen's hands go to her shoulder and she found her balance. 

This kiss was perfect, warm, inviting, mind-blowing, head spinning, sending Tobin into a frenzy of thoughts and feelings. Christen’s lips were so soft, and perfect Tobin was getting lost. If she could have she would have stayed kissing her for the rest of the day, but she knew it had to end, and when she pulled back, slowly opening her eyes to see Christen’s were still closed, she knew this amazing goddess felt the same way.

"Wow," Christen breathed, her eyes still closed.

Tobin grinned leaning forward to rest her forehead against her girl’s, "You're telling me."

"If I would’ve known it would be that good, I would've told you to do that a lot sooner."

This made her crack up, "Well we can do it again anytime you want." She tightened her hand on the muscles in Christens back. "Like right now, maybe."

"No, no," she laughed pushing away. "If we start we won't stop."

Tobin followed her forward "That doesn't sound like a problem to me."

"Oh no?" She slipped past the advancing girl. "Too bad you need to learn trigonometry."

"I already know everything," Tobin tried to lie with a smile. "We can skip studying and go right into making out."

Christen leaned against her desk, her arms crossed, "Okay what’s Euler’s formula?” She watched as those brown eyes flicked back and forth trying to find the answer. "Uh-huh, that's what I thought."

"That's not fair," she protested moving closer to the girl she wanted. "Ask me another." She reached out to place her hands on slender hips, smirking as she saw Christen's bottom lip go between her teeth.

Moving her hips just enough to see the field of honey brown turn black as the forward girl’s pupils dilated. "How about we make a deal. For every five questions you finish in your homework, we'll take a two minute break."

“Five," Tobin countered moving her head so their lips were inches from touching.

Christen's hands, having a mind of their own, traveled to the broad shoulders, "Three."

"Deal," she leaned in for another kiss, catching Christen's breath as their lips connected. She lightly squeezed down on her hips wanting to bad to travel further down. But there was something to be said about the game they were playing, so she pulled back and headed for her backpack. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

Now realizing this was going to be a thing with them, Christen moved over to the bed and patted the spot next to her. "Come on let's get going."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the support. I hope everyone is enjoying the story.


End file.
